Lu Yu

(second name, Fang-weng). Born 1125; died 1210. Chinese poet.

In his youth, Lu Yu experienced want and deprivation. He worked as a civil servant in several places, including Szechwan. More than 9,300 of his poems have survived, in the tz’u and shih genres, most of which are imbued with patriotic motifs, including “Lines Dedicated to Chiennan,” “On the First Day of the 11th Moon the Wind and the Rain Contended,” “Surveying the Plan of the City of Ch’angan,” and “I Recall Past Deeds in the Campaign Against the West.” In his poetry, Lu Yu expressed sorrow and grief over the fate of his homeland and people. He also wrote a literary diary, Notes About a Trip to Szechwan, one of the first Chinese works in this genre. He spent the last years of his life in obscurity.