Lu You

The extant works of Lu You (1125-1210) include more than 9,300 poems, covering almost all aspects of social life in the early Southern Song Dynasty.

Lu You's poems have two major attributes: first, the powerful and heroic, resolute and self-sacrificing spirit, fully evident in lines like "I can still destroy the invaders from Yan and Zhao kingdoms in battle as soon as the war drum sounds," composed by him at age 82; second, his acerbic flaying of capitulationists and hisself-assurance and resolution against Kin invaders.

Some poems express his unfulfilled ideals, such as Expression of indignation, AutumnThoughts, Poem Composed Casually While Lying in Bed ,and A StormyDay on November 4. Other poems extol the beauty of life, as in his Touring ShanxiVillage and Spring Rain Stops in Lin'an. Basically realist, Lu You placed emphasis on expressing his objective feelings and seldom gave details of a subjective nature, hence his poems are generalized but very expressive. Yet, Lu You's poetry, while realist, also has a touch of romanticism. Using refined and naturallanguage, Lu You's poems are mainly expressed through his magnificentevocation of the anti-Kin war and the consequent recovery of his homeland.