Liu Yong

Liu Yong (approximately 984–1053), was a Chinese poet in Northern Song Dynasty. His original name was Liu Sanbian (Chinese: 柳三变), courtesy name was Jingzhuang (Chinese: 景庄), and he later changed his name to Liu Yong, courtesy name Qiqing (Chinese: 耆卿). He was born in Chong'an (崇安), Fujian, but his ancestral home was in present-day Yongji, Shanxi. Liu Yong was ambitious to make achievements and contribute to serving the country from an early age. He had received an education for imperial examination, which lay a foundation for his poetry writing. However, he failed four times and his career as an officer was not well-off. He spent a lot of leisure days with sing-song girls to have fun, which truly influenced his writing style and images in his poems. Liu Yong was the first poet who reformed Song Ci (宋词) poetry in a comprehensive way. The trend of long-form Song Ci poetry originated from him. Moreover, he has made great efforts creating a poem genre called "Slow poetry" or "Slow song form" (Chinese: 慢词), and made full use of vulgar words and common sayings. The genre combined mundane images with graceful descriptions. The use of incisive narrations, plain image depictions and other artistic expressions by Liu Yong has made a profound impact on Song Ci poetry in later ages. Liu Yong was also one of the representatives of Graceful and Euphemism school, which is called "Wan Yue Pai(婉约派)"in classical Chinese literature. Life