徐渭，字文長，為山陰諸生，聲名藉甚。薛公蕙校越時，奇其才，有國士之目； 然數奇，屢試輒蹶。中丞胡公宗憲聞之，客諸幕。文長每見，則葛衣烏巾，縱談天下事；胡公大喜。是時公督數邊兵，威鎮東南，介冑之士，膝語蛇行，不敢舉頭；而文 長以部下一諸生傲之。議者方之劉真長、杜少陵云。 會得白鹿，屬文長作表。表上，永陵喜。公以是益奇之，一切疏計，皆出其手。 文長自負才略，好奇計，談兵多中，視一世事無可當意者；然竟不偶。

Xu Wei, also known as Xu wenchang, was a Xiucai with great fame in Shanyin.  Xue Gonghui, then was the cheif examiner in the province of Zhejiang, deeply appreciated the brilliance of Xu and regarded him as a future pillar of state.  However, he was so unlucky that he failed to pass the provincial examination many times. 

Then Lord Hu Zhongxian, the governor, heard of Xu and invited him as a secretary.  Every time when Xu paid an audience with Governor Hu, he always wore a robe made of ko-kemp cloth and wore a black turban, talking about all things with broad vision; and so gained deep appreciation from Hu.  At that time Governor Hu was commanding a victorious army in Southeast; all of his men so stood in awe of him that they always turned aside, knelt down, and dared not raise their heads to look at him when they were asked.  Hence some people wondered how Xu, just a consulting secretary, could keep such a high profile in front of Hu, and so they likened Xu to Liu Chengchang and Du Fu. 

Accidentally, Governor Hu captured a white deer in a hunting, and the memorialized document ghostwritten by Xu delighted Emperor Yongling.  Hence Hu regarded Xu even more highly, and let him take part in all the planning of the strategies.  Xu, conceited, boasted of his resourcefulness, and got almost all his consignments done without fail, so he thought there would have nothing that he could not do in this world, and thought he yet to have opportunities which could really make him prove his true talent.   

文長既已不得志於有司，遂乃放浪麴蘗(音：渠播)，恣情山水，走齊、魯、燕、趙之地，窮覽朔漠。其所見山奔海立，沙起雷行，雨鳴樹偃，幽谷大都，人物魚鳥，一切可驚可愕之狀，一一皆達之於詩。其胸中又有勃然不可磨滅之氣，英雄失路、托足無門之悲；故其為詩如嗔如笑，如水鳴峽，如種出土，如寡婦之夜哭，羈人之寒起。雖其體格，時有卑者；然匠心獨出，有王者氣，非彼巾幗而事人者所敢望也。文有卓識，氣沈而法嚴，不以模擬損才，不以議論傷格，韓、曾之流亞也。文長既雅不與時調合，當時所謂騷壇主盟者，文長皆叱而怒之，故其名不出於越。悲夫！

Since Xu Wei could not gain and enjoy success in politics as his career, he started to drown his loneliness in wine and wandering.  He roamed over many places in Shandong and Hebei, intoxicating himself in the wonders everywhere, even of the dessert.  He portrayed those splendid scenes into his poems: sinuous mountains like galloping horses, surging waves like precipitous cliffs, stormy sands and roaring thunders, the intertwined resonance of rain and wind, grotesque shape of trees, tranquil valleys and prosperous cities, extraordinary persons and precious creatures, that made his mouth agape like never before.  Deep down he embraced himself inextricable ambition to do something big, but he could not find the way out to make his wishes come true, so his poems were fraught with laments of frustration like a hero being unable to perform his deeds.

Therefore, sometimes he would fly into a passion or register a trace of sarcasm in his poems, like rapid flood running through ravines with thunder, or like seeds full of vitality sprouting from soils in Spring, or like widows harshly whining in midnights lamenting their misfortune, or like the reluctant feeling that a traveller had to resume his journey from the temporary lodge amid inclement mornings.  Despite the relative indecent style sometimes, his poem boasted of unique ingenuity with superb phenomenon and lofty quality, with which those kitsches that catering to low taste totally paled by comparison.  Xu held sensible and unique view on the way of writing.  His articles were full of profound perscapicacity and conscientious standard.  He would never stick to established practice as to oppress his own talent and creativity, nor indulged himself in loud and empty talk as to jeopardize the solid foundation and logic of his works. 

He was really a superb essayist, so prominent as a latter-day Ouyang Xiu or Zheng Gong.  Xu was a person of elegance and loftiness, and he refused to accommodate himself to the trendy style of writing.  He also so ruthlessly critized the so-called literature leaders, that made his works gain little praise among peers.  Therefore, his fame was limited to, Jiangsu and zhejiang, his hometown only.  What a shame it was!  (to be continued.....)