Jia Dao

Who was Jia Dao?

Jia Dao, courtesy name Langxian, was a Chinese poet active during the Tang Dynasty. He was born near modern Beijing; after a period as a Buddhist monk, he went to Chang'an. He became one of Han Yu's disciples, but failed the jinshi exam several times. He wrote both discursive gushi and lyric jintishi. His works were criticised as "thin" by Su Shi, and some other commentators have considered them limited and artificial.

According to Dr. James J.Y. Liu, a professor of Chinese and comparative literature, Jia’s poem The Swordsman "seems...to sum up the spirit of knight errantry in four lines." The Swordsman is as follows: