Lu You, the Poet of Regrets throughout His Life

Although Fang Weng appeared unrestrained on the outside, he always had the world at heart; in his dreams he would often find himself on the battlefield, serving his country. “\"Patriotism\" is always associated with Lu You’s poetry. Seen from the front, there is heroism, dedication to the country, and the poet’s passionate spirit – admirable and worthy of respect. On the negative side, it can sometimes appear overly academic. The Northern Expedition is a **strategic issue; from a higher level of perspective, it is a political event. Lu You, a scholar, was a literati, historian, and calligrapher; however, history has not proven whether he possessed **talent**. Similarly, he was not an excellent politician either. Rather than being a “patriotic” poet, Fang Weng is better described as a poet of temperament. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it was truly rare to have a scholar like Lu You. Yang Wanming disdained ci-poetry and felt ashamed of having written ci-poems in his later years. Yet the \"Ci Tou Feng\" he wrote has become a masterpiece that will endure through the ages. This is precisely because he is a poet of nature; once he picks up a pen, he pours his deep emotions into his writing.

\"Two Poems on Shen Yuan\" were written by Lu You when he revisited Shen Yuan at the age of 75. Faced with his deceased beloved, the poet expressed his most genuine feelings. Two quatrains, totaling fifty-six characters; after reading them, tears streamed down my face. The transcription is as follows: The setting sun casts a sad glow on the city walls; Shen Yuan is no longer the garden it used to be. Beneath the bridge, the spring waters are green; once, it was here that the beautiful swan reflected its image in the water. Forty years since the dream and fragrance vanished; the willows in Shen Yuan no longer sway in the breeze. This body turns to dust of Jishan; still, I mourn its remnants with tears.

Too lazy to drink two bottles by the sandbank, I invite you to share the light by the small window. The sound of the horn at sunset is most touching. Busy days are full of toil, with little leisure; new worries keep emerging as old ones persist. Alone among guests, I fear joining the crowd.

This can be used as a slogan for Sha Zhou You Huang

Lu You and Han Yuanji spent two months together in Zhenjiang; they surely had many opportunities to visit Jinshan, Jiaoshan, and Beigu Island, to enjoy the river views, and to taste fine wines. As their time together was coming to an end, they realized even more how precious those moments were. Talking together was better than anything else. It was under such circumstances that the line “Too lazy to get drunk by the shore with a jade bottle of wine” came into being. This sentence has its source; in Du Fu’s poem \"Drunk Song,\" there is a line that reads: \"When the wine is gone, the two jade bottles lie on the sandbank; all the guests are drunk while I alone remain sober.\" Then I realized that poverty and lowly status bring even greater suffering; I remained silent, hesitating, with tears streaming down my face. ”The first line of this poem originates from this; not only are the words extremely similar, but it also conveys the meaning of separation and parting. Since one is too lazy to go out to enjoy the views and drink wine, a better option is to \"invite someone to share the beauty of the light through the small window; the sound of the horns in the setting sun is truly touching.\" The setting sun evokes a sense of attachment, while the sound of the evening horn brings about a feeling of melancholy; these emotions together create an atmosphere suitable for intimate conversation, which is why it is said to be \"most conducive to deep feelings\". But what exactly is this “emotion” at this point is difficult to express clearly and specifically due to its numerous facets. 　　The first two lines of the second stanza of a \"Huanshi Sha\" poem usually require antithesis, which is why they are often the part to which the author pays the most attention. The couplet written here by Lu You is simple, akin to plain language, but its descriptions of busyness and sorrow remain general and fail to capture the essence of things. At the end, the line \"Afraid you’ll leave with no one to accompany you here\" touches the reader with its straightforwardness and genuine emotions, fully expressing the feeling of reluctance to part.

Lu You’s line \"Iron horses and frozen rivers appear in my dreams\" – even in his dreams he is fighting the enemy!

Otherwise, how could he become one of the poets with the most preserved poems? There are over ten thousand of his poems still in existence!

When the imperial army recovers the Central Plains, on family sacrifices I will not forget to inform my father – what a lifelong regret