Tu Long is best known as a poet and a dramatist. Forced out of government office in 1583 as a result of slander, Tu returned to his home in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, to lead the life of a poor scholar, dabbling in Daoism and eking out a meager livelihood composing epitaphs and other commemorative pieces.Tu Long"s calligraphy epitomizes the late Ming taste for bold large-character cursive. His sharply tilted characters of varying sizes, in which the curved and hooked strokes are emphasized, also reflect the influence of the middle Ming master Zhu Yunming (1461–1527). This poem, which was published about 1582 in Tu"s first collection of poetry, is one of twelve he composed at a gathering of friends in the autumn rain.