尤袤的一生行迹（1127-1194）
尤袤，字延之，号遂初居士，无锡人，南宋著名诗人、藏书家，与杨万里、范成大、陆游并称"南宋四大家"。诗风平淡自然，长于五言。著有《遂初堂书目》《梁溪集》等，其藏书之富冠绝一时。
无锡（1127） · 无锡少时
宋高宗建炎元年，尤袤出生于无锡，其家为书香门第。尤袤自幼聪慧好学，五岁即能诗，十四岁以神童举入太学。他在无锡太湖畔成长，对山水自然有着深厚的感情，这对他日后的诗歌创作影响深远。
临安（1149） · 进士及第
宋高宗绍兴十九年，尤袤进士及第，时年二十三岁。他在廷试中表现优异，授泰兴县令。及第后他在临安结识了杨万里等文士，开始了长期的文学交游。
泰兴（1152） · 仕宦藏书
宋高宗绍兴二十二年前后，尤袤任泰兴县令。他在泰兴勤政爱民，兴修水利，减轻赋税，深得百姓爱戴。他在泰兴任上写下了不少山水田园诗，诗风平淡而意蕴深远，为后来"南宋四大家"之誉奠定了创作基础。
无锡（1165） · 仕宦藏书
宋孝宗乾道元年，尤袤在家乡无锡建遂初堂藏书楼，专事收藏和整理古籍。他四处搜求善本，不惜重金购买珍稀典籍。遂初堂藏书之富，冠绝东南，成为南宋最重要的私家藏书楼之一。
台州（1170） · 四家并称
宋孝宗乾道六年前后，尤袤出知台州（今浙江临海）。台州面海背山，风物与无锡迥异。他在台州推行文教，修葺学宫，深受当地士子欢迎。台州山海之间的壮阔风光也为他的诗歌增添了新的气象。
临安（1178） · 四家并称
宋孝宗淳熙五年，尤袤在临安与杨万里、范成大、陆游等人诗酒唱和，"南宋四大家"之名由此而起。他们的诗风各有特色，尤袤以平淡自然著称，在四人中别具一格。
无锡（1188） · 晚年归里
宋孝宗淳熙十五年，尤袤以秘阁修撰致仕归无锡。他回到遂初堂后，将全部精力用于整理藏书和撰述。他编撰了《遂初堂书目》，详细记录了家藏三万余卷书籍，成为研究宋代藏书史的重要文献。
无锡（1194） · 晚年归里
宋光宗绍熙五年，尤袤病逝于无锡，享年六十八岁。他一生诗书双绝，诗歌平淡自然，藏书冠绝东南。遗憾的是，其诗集《梁溪集》后来散失殆尽，流传至今的诗作仅存百余首，远不如其他三家丰富。
The Life Journey of You Mao, Book-Keeper of the Four Masters
You Mao (1127-1194), of Wuxi on Lake Tai, was the fourth of the 'Four Masters of the Southern Song' — with Lu You, Fan Chengda and Yang Wanli — and the one the ages have treated least fairly: his collected 'Liangxi' poems were almost entirely lost, leaving a hundred-odd verses to stand for a life's fame. But his other monument survived complete: the Suichu Hall library, the richest private collection in the southeast, and its catalogue — thirty thousand volumes indexed — the founding document of Chinese bibliography's private tradition.
Timeline of the Journey
- 1127 · Wuxi — Born in the year the Song lost the north, to a bookish family by Lake Tai: poems at five, the academy at fourteen.
- 1149 · Lin'an — Jinshi at twenty-three, near the head of the class: the county post at Taixing first, and the literary friendships that would last a lifetime — Yang Wanli at the center of them.
- 1152 · Taixing — Governor of Taixing: dikes and taxes and the poor cared for properly — the plain style of his poems and his administration agreeing with each other.
- 1165 · Wuxi — The Suichu Hall built at home: a lifetime of hunting rare editions begun — 'whatever book I lack, I dream of it' — the southeast's greatest library assembling shelf by shelf.
- 1170 · Taizhou — Governor of Taizhou, mountains at its back and the sea before it: schools repaired, the scholars gathered — and the coastal scenery widening the verse.
- 1178 · Lin'an — The years of capital reunion: You Mao, Yang Wanli, Fan Chengda, Lu You in one round of poems and wine — the 'Four Masters' name minted at those tables.
- 1188 · Wuxi — Retired as compiler of the Palace Archives, home to the hall he built: the catalogue of thirty thousand volumes drawn up — the Suichu Hall Catalogue, the librarian's classic.
- 1194 · Wuxi — Dead at sixty-eight: the library dispersed, the poems lost within generations — the catalogue surviving to prove what both had been.
'A book one lacks is worth more than a jewel; a book one has and has not read is a debt.' You Mao's own rule of collecting — the fourth master survives as China's conscience of libraries: the keeper whose list outlived his songs.
