Biography

Cui Hao was born in Biànzhōu (汴州, present day Kaifeng, Henan) and passed the imperial examinations in 723. He is known to have traveled extensively as an official, particularly between the years 723–744. He was known for three poetry topic - women, frontier outposts, and natural scenery. His life was initially conventional; along with Wang Wei, he was one of the perfectors of the jintishi form. Later, however, he acquired a reputation for disreputable personal behaviour and passed through several marriages. His later verse is similarly unconstrained.

Poems

Fifteen poems exist on the topic of women and fifteen poems exist on the latter two topics. A famous poem of his is the Yellow Crane Tower; which is one of the four of his poems included in the Three Hundred Tang Poems anthology, written in seven-character-per-line regulated verse, and which was later translated into English by Witter Bynner as "The Yellow Crane Terrace". Also included in the Three Hundred Tang Poems is a seven-character-per-line regular verse form poem written in the huaigu genre style on his passage through Huayin, north of Hua Shan, as well as two old or folk style pieces with erotic overtones.

生平

崔顥生年無考。開元十年（722年）或十一年（723年）中進士。開元十三年（725年）在相州（今河南安陽），向宰相張說推薦過樊衡，崔顥此時所任官職不明。

登進士第後，大約在開元十八年（730年）到開元二十九年之間，曾在河東節度使軍中代州都督杜希望手下任職。曾前往定襄郡進行糾察，親斷刑獄。開元二十九年（741年），擔任扶溝縣尉，其官位一直不顯。約在天寶三載前，為太僕寺丞。天寶九載（750年）在監察御史上。官至司勛員外郎。天寶十三載（754年）卒於任上。

評價

崔顥的詩風在不同階段有明顯變化。殷璠《河嶽英靈集》說他「年少為詩，名陷輕薄，晚節忽變常體，風骨凜然，一窺塞垣，說盡戎旅」。

崔顥四處遊歷，吟詩甚勤，其友人笑他吟詩吟得人也瘦（非子病如此，乃苦吟詩瘦耳）。

唐朝時，當時人常常將崔顥在詩歌創作上與王維並提。《舊唐書·文苑傳》將他與王昌齡、高適、孟浩然並提。宋朝嚴羽在《滄浪詩話》中稱崔顥的《黃鶴樓》詩是唐人七律第一。直到明清，崔顥的評價都一直很高。

著作

《新唐書·藝文志》著錄崔顥詩一卷，《直齋書錄題解》載其集一卷。《全唐詩》編錄其詩一卷。明朝人輯有《崔顥集》。

《全唐文》載有崔顥文兩篇，一篇為崔顥薦樊衡書；另一篇《薦齊秀才文》實為令狐楚的《薦齊孝若書》。趙明誠《金石錄》載有《唐扶溝令馬光淑頌》崔顥撰。但有目無文。2004年公布的《唐故居士錢府君夫人舒氏墓志銘並序》為崔顥撰。

軼聞

《新唐書》本傳載有崔顥向李邕獻詩，首章為「十五嫁王昌」，被李邕斥責為無禮。傅璇琮認為崔顥獻詩當屬于唐人行卷一類的行為，用來博取聲譽，更容易登科。而崔顥登科之前，李邕正被貶謫偏遠州縣，崔顥不太可能向他獻詩。