Letter to Prefect Yuanbo (In a Pure Autumn)

Lu You (style name Wuguan, sobriquet Fangweng), a native of Shaoxing in Zhejiang, was a talented and untrammeled scholar who excelled at poetry and prose, his works possessing an unusual quality of splendor full of dramatic sentiment. Reflecting the trend at the time, he was the most important poet of the Southern Song period. Lu wrote this letter in the Qiandao sixth year (1170) to his friend, Zeng Feng (style name Yuanbo). Lu was not only a Southern Song litterateur but an important calligrapher as well. He once wrote, In calligraphy learn from Yan (Zhenqing), referring to the Tang dynasty master. And in his literary collection are many references to Colophon on the Calligraphy of (Su) Dongpo, indicating that he studied the Song calligraphy of Su Shi quite extensively, too. In fact, this letter is concrete evidence of Lu's studying the calligraphy of both Yan and Su. The style is plump but dynamic, following his convention in letters written after his middle years. It is thus a representative example of Lu following the Northern Song stylistic trend of Su Shi.