Tao Yuanming

Who was Tao Yuanming?

Tao Yuanming was a Chinese poet of the Six Dynasties period. In the middle of his life, he changed his name Tao Yuanming to Tao Qian.

Tao Yuanming is generally regarded as the greatest poet during the centuries between the Han and Tang dynasties. He is also the foremost of the "recluse" poets, or the poets who seem to have written their greatest work while in reclusion and/or those poets in whose poems the theme of countryside solitude particularly resonates.

In Tao Yuanming's poems can be found superlative examples of the theme which urges its audience to drop out of official life, move to the country, and take up a cultivated life of wine, poetry, and avoiding people with whom friendship would be unsuitable, but in Tao's case this went along with actually engaging in farming. Tao's poetry also shows an inclination to fulfillment of duty, such as feeding his family. Tao's simple and plain style of expression, reflecting his back-to-basics lifestyle, first became better known as he achieved local fame as a hermit. This was followed gradually by recognition in major anthologies. By the Tang Dynasty, Tao was elevated to greatness as a poet's poet, revered by Li Bai and Du Fu.