沈佺期的一生行迹（656-715）
沈佺期（约656-715），字云卿，相州内黄人，初唐诗人。上元二年进士，武后朝依附张易之，官至给事中。神龙元年流放驩州（今越南境内），次年遇赦北归，历任修文馆直学士、中书舍人、太子少詹事。与宋之问并称"沈宋"，七律《独不见》被推为唐人七律压卷之一。
相州内黄（656） · 及第入仕
唐高宗显庆元年（656年），沈佺期出生于相州内黄（今河南内黄）。内黄地处古黄河之滨、魏北要冲，自汉魏以来人文荟萃。沈佺期自幼聪颖好学，博览群书，为日后登科入仕打下坚实根基。
长安（675） · 及第入仕
唐高宗上元二年（675年），沈佺期赴长安应进士试，一举及第，授协律郎。这一年与宋之问同榜登科，两人从此结下一生的诗缘与仕途纠葛，"沈宋"之名日后震动初唐诗坛。
洛阳（698） · 武周侍臣
武周圣历元年（698年）前后，沈佺期在神都洛阳累迁考功员外郎、给事中，预修《三教珠英》，出入宫廷，扈从游宴，与宋之问、杜审言等唱和酬答，成为武周后期最活跃的宫廷诗人之一。
嵩山（700） · 武周侍臣
武周久视元年（700年），武则天巡幸嵩山，于石淙河会饮赋诗，自撰《石淙》诗，命群臣奉和。沈佺期随驾作《嵩山石淙侍宴应制》，极写山川之胜与銮舆之盛，为武周宫廷应制诗的代表作之一。
大庾岭（705） · 南荒流谪
唐中宗神龙元年（705年），张易之兄弟被诛，沈佺期以谄附之罪长流驩州。他与同案被贬峰州的杜审言结伴南行，同越大庾岭，作《遥同杜员外审言过岭》，互慰迁客之悲。
驩州（706） · 南荒流谪
唐中宗神龙二年（706年），沈佺期历经万里跋涉抵达驩州（今越南乂安）。此地已是唐帝国版图极南，瘴疠酷烈、风俗迥异。沈佺期在贬所度日如年，写下《初达驩州》等血泪诗篇。
岭表（707） · 南荒流谪
唐中宗神龙三年（707年），朝廷大赦，沈佺期遇赦自驩州北归。途经岭表时正值寒食，岭南无此节气风物，他触景生情作《岭表逢寒食》，又作《喜赦》诗，庆幸生还中原。
台州（708） · 遇赦再起
唐中宗景龙二年（708年）前后，遇赦北归的沈佺期授台州录事参军。台州滨海而多山水之胜，天台山近在咫尺。沈佺期在此整顿州务、登览吟咏，由南荒逐臣渐入清要之途。
长安（710） · 遇赦再起
唐中宗景龙四年（710年）前后，沈佺期被召回长安，历任起居郎、修文馆直学士、中书舍人。景龙文馆学士唱和极盛，沈佺期以宿学精工屡冠群贤，成为中宗朝宫廷诗坛的领军人物。
长安（终老）（715） · 东宫终老
唐玄宗开元三年（715年），官至太子詹事（一说太子少詹事）的沈佺期卒于长安，年约六十。他以东宫僚佐之尊善终，身后与宋之问并称"沈宋"，同被推为律诗定型的开山宗师。
The Life Journey of Shen Quanqi, Co-Founder of the Regulated Poem
Shen Quanqi (c. 656-715), of Neihuang, is the other half of 'Shen-Song' — the pair that brought the regulated Tang poem to its final fixed form. Court poet under Wu Zetian, exiled five thousand li to Huanzhou in today's Vietnam when her favorites fell, pardoned, and restored to lead the Longmen-era academy of court poets: a career identical to Song Zhiwen's, except that Shen died in honor — grand tutor to the crown prince — and Song died by order.
Timeline of the Journey
- 656 · Neihuang — Born on the old Yellow River's bank in Xiangzhou, a district of Han-Wei learning: the books before the ambition.
- 675 · Chang'an — Jinshi in the same class as Song Zhiwen — the partnership of a lifetime, and of literary history, begun at the same examination table.
- 698 · Luoyang — Rising through the personnel and review offices into the Zhou court: co-editor of the 'Pearls of the Three Teachings,' feast poet in the empress's train, the courtly half of the Shen-Song style perfected.
- 700 · Mount Song — The empress at the Shi-cong stream: wine and poems down the line of courtiers, Shen's festival piece the model of the court-response form — the splendor and the void of it both intact.
- 705 · Dayu Range — The fall of the Zhang brothers, the guilt by association: long banishment to Huanzhou. Over the range with Du Shenyan — poems traded across the mountains to keep each other alive.
- 706 · Huanzhou — Huanzhou at last — the far southern edge of the map, the fevers, the unmeasured time: 'First Arrival at Huanzhou,' and the exile poems that saved his name from his career.
- 707 · The Lingnan — The great amnesty: north at last, the Cold Festival met in a country that had none — the poem of that return read as his best.
- 708 · Taizhou — Restored by degrees: registrar at Taizhou by the sea, Mount Tiantai in reach — the exile gradually becoming an official again.
- 710 · Chang'an — Recalled: diarist, academy member, drafter of edicts — in the Longwen years' great revival of court poetry, the senior craftsman first in every list.
- 715 · Chang'an — Dead at Chang'an, about sixty, as tutor to the heir apparent: the founder of the regulated poem dying in title and honor — the other Shen-Song ending.
'Who says my sorrow is unseen? The moon lights the yellow silk still.' The palace melancholy of 'Alone, Unseen' fixed the mood of a thousand later poems — Shen Quanqi built the cage of the regulated form, then showed what could be sung inside it.
