Meng Haoran

A major influence on both contemporary and subsequent poets of the Tang dynasty due to his proficiency in Shanshui poetry and his disciplined, independent spirit. Meng was prominently featured in the Qing dynasty (and subsequently frequently republished) poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, having a total of fifteen poems included, the fifth largest number, exceeded only by Du Fu, Li Bai, Wang Wei, and Li Shangyin. These poems of Meng Haoran were made available in English translations by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kanghu with the publication of The Jade Mountain in 1920. In 2021, a complete translation of all Meng's poems by Paul W. Kroll was published as The Poetry of Meng Haoran, which also contains an introduction of Meng's life and historical contexts of his poetry. The Three Hundred Tang Poems also collected two poems by Li Bai addressed to Meng Haoran, one in his praise and one written in farewell.

• Name — Meng Haoran • Native Name — 孟浩然 • Born — 689/691 • Birthplace — Xiangyang, Hubei, China • Died — 740 689 740 691 • Place of death — Xiangyang, Hubei, China • Occupation — Poet • Children — Meng Yifu (孟儀甫) Meng

• Illustration — A city park in the former Xiangyang area, Meng Haoran's home territory. One of the major poets during a peak era of the Tang Poetry, known as the High Tang, Meng Haoran was born in Xiangyang District, Xiangfan, south of the Han River, in the modern province of Hubei. He remained strongly attached to this area and its scenery throughout his life. He had the desire to pursue a career in politics in his youth, but never succeeded in securing an official position. As recorded by the New Book of Tang, he was recommended by his good friend Wang Wei to Emperor Xuanzong, who granted him an audience, during which he recited his poem. However, one line therein angered the emperor: "The untalented the wise lord discards" (zh-Hant), which Xuanzong interpreted as a sarcastic complaint for not employing him sooner in the imperial government. For this reason, he was sent away from the palace. He received his only quasi-civil service position as an advisor to Zhang Jiuling three years before his death, but resigned after less than a year due to his aloofness and pride. He lived in the Xiangyang area almost all his life, except for a brief trip to the capital city of Chang'an where he was hosted by Wang Wei in 728. The landscape, history and legends of his hometown are the subjects of a majority of his poems. Some particularly prominent landmarks include Nanshan (or South Mountain, his family seat) and Lumen Shan, a temple site, where he briefly lived in retreat from the world at large.

Meng Haoran is often bracketed with Wang Wei, due to the friendship they shared and their prominence as landscape poets. In fact, Meng composed several poems about Wang and their parting. While Wang's work focused on the natural world, in particular the solitude and reprieve it granted from human life along with the scale of the natural world, Meng's poetry focuses more on foreground details and human life, such as returning villagers waiting at the ferry crossing, fishermen, or (often unseen) mountain hermits dwelling in religious seclusion. Meng's poetic language was as simple as everyday conversation, yet this simplicity did not diminish his poems' careful craftsmanship. Critics have noted that Meng's artistry resides in his adeptness at transforming ordinary daily experiences into enduring poetry. Meng's quatrain "Spring Morning" (zh-Hant) is one of the best known Tang poems, partly due to its position as the opening selection in the Qian-Jia Shi (Poems of a Thousand Masters), a beginner's anthology of verses widely adopted in elementary school curricula since the late Song dynasty. 春眠不覺曉， 處處聞啼鳥。 夜來風雨聲， 花落知多少。 In spring slumber, I am unaware of daybreak, Though everywhere I hear the tweet of birds. Last night came the sound of wind and rain; Who knows how many flowers must have fallen?