Writers › Writer / Poet
Meng Jiao
Tang poet who passed the jinshi examination in his forties, wrote mostly five-character old-style verse and composed Song of the Wandering Son
Mural of Song of the Parting Son, a work by this person.
By lamplight, a mother sews a warm traveling robe for her son before he leaves home. Spring light beyond the doorway frames the tenderness and lasting care of parting.
Also known as Meng Dongye · Dongye · Meng Langxian · Poet Inmate
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Meng Jiao, courtesy name Dongye, from Wukang in Huzhou, was a Tang poet born in 751, whom Yuan Haowen called a prisoner of poetry. He passed the jinshi examination only at forty-six, or forty-five by another count, and in 801 became sheriff of Liyang, where he neglected his duties for poetry and had his pay halved; Han Yu called him the poor sheriff of Liyang in a poem. More than five hundred poems survive, mostly in five-character old style; the best known is Song of the Wandering Son. A friend of Han Yu, he belonged to the Han-Meng school, and Su Shi paired him with Jia Dao as cold Jiao and lean Dao. He died in 814.
Life and times
Dates 751 - 814