Lu You - Definition and Overview

Lu Yu or Lu You (陆游)(1125- 1210) was a Chinese poet of the southern Song dynasty. He passed the civil service examination, but was unsuccessful in his official career: he adopted a patriotic stance, advocating the expulsion of the Jurchen from northern China, but this position was out of tune with the times. He retired to Shaoxing in frustration. His wife died in 1197.

He wrote over ten thousand poems, in both the shi and ci forms, plus a number of prose works. In his poetry he continues to articulate the beliefs which cost him his official career, calling for reconquest of the north. Watson identifies these works as part of the legacy of Du Fu (p. 314). Watson compares a second body of work, poems on country life and growing old, to those of Bai Juyi and Tao Qian.

Further reading

• Watson, Burton (editor); (1984). The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231056834.