次韻叔父帖 A letter to Hsia Chunyu

【About the author】

黃庭堅，字魯直，號涪翁，又號山谷，分寧人。生於宋仁宗慶曆五年，卒於徽宗崇寧四年，享年六十一歲。為江詩西派的領袖人物，更是東坡的好友。門人諡曰「文節先生」。魯直自幼聰穎，讀書幾可過目不忘。蘇東坡曾見其詩文，以為超軼絕塵，為蘇門四學士之一。舉進士，官至起居舍人，但因黨爭之故，先後被眨謫至黔州、涪州、鄂州，最後客死宜州。忠賢而不得志，這點和東坡相同，實在可惜。書亦為北宋四大家之一。

Inside Story

Huang Tingchien wrote this farewell poem to his friend Hsia Chunyu, who was leaving for a new official position soon. Huang Tingchien applied a number of allusions in the poem to point out the danger hidden in a political circle; furthermore he advised his friend it is better being a populace to live a steady life.