Meng Hao-Jan

Born 689 in Hsiangyang, present-day Hopeh Province; died there 740. Chinese poet.

Meng Hao-jan spent almost his entire life in the countryside; he wandered throughout China and for a time was a hermit. He continued the tradition of the nature lyric of T’ao Yiian-ming and Hsieh Ling-yün. Meng Hao-jan’s best poems are about nature, friendship, and the joys of a hermit’s life; these include “Spring Morning,” “With a Friend in the Village,” “I Spend the Night on the Chien-tieh River,” “I Write on the Wall of the Cell of Master I,” and “Parting From Wang Wei.” They are distinguished by their classical clarity and simplicity. Meng Hao-jan was a master of the five-syllable canonical verse line. His work influenced the poetry of Korea and Japan.