⬅️ 唐诗 Tang Poems
Meng Jiao (孟郊，751-814 AD) was a poet in middle Tang Dynasty. He grew up during a time of chaos and disturbance as the result of An-Shi Rebellion. Meng Jiao spent many years wandering in southern China as a poet and as a recluse before he traveled to Luoyang (洛阳). It was said in Old Tang Book (旧唐书) that Meng Jiao was withdrawn and eccentric. He lived most of his life in poverty. Although Meng Jiao tried several times at the Jinshi imperial examination, he did not pass until he was 46 years old. After he was appointed to a entry-level post after he passed the examination, Meng Jiao still spent much of his time on poetry. His supervisor had to appoint a substitute official to undertake the duty for him. Meng Jiao's salary was also cut by half to share with his substitute. Therefore his economic well-being was not alleviated by his working in government.
In 814 AD, Meng Jiao was finally promoted to an advisory position. But he died on the way to his new post. Given his circumstance many of Meng Jiao's poems were about the poverty and the harshness of life. The language he used was often cold and obscure. This won him a title "the prisoner of the poetry （诗囚）". However, his poems went beyond just personal experience and feeling. Some of them addressed the inequality between the rich and the poor and the dark side of the reality. Others showed the sympathy to ordinary people who suffered the hardships of life. He also composed some poems that portrayed the affections between husband and wife, father and son, and mother and son. The representative of this group of poetry was this Ballad of A Traveling Son. It became one of the most famous classic poems in China and was included in the anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.
