Meng Jiao (Meng Chiao) 751-814

One of the writers who advocated the emulation of the ancients, Meng was associated with Han Yu. He came from modern Zhejiang, passed the jinshi examination at the third attempt in 1796 and in 1800 took up a minor official post. By 806 he had resigned and spent the rest of his life in Loyang. His poetry is often angry and discordant, not polished and gracious like that of his contemporaries, and his poem sequences in particular can be disturbing. Later critics disliked his work intensely and he is not amongst the most popular of poets in recent centuries.

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