Meng Haoran

Meng Haoran
孟浩然
Meng Haoran.
Born689/691
Died740 (aged 50–51)
740 (aged 48–49)
Xiangyang, Hubei, China
OccupationPoet
ChildrenMeng Yifu (孟儀甫)
Chinese name
Chinese孟浩然
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMèng Hàorán
Wade–GilesMeng4 Hao4-jan2
IPA[mə̂ŋ xâʊ.ɻǎn]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMaahng Houh-yìhn
JyutpingMaang6 Hou6-jin4
IPA[maŋ˨ hɔw˨ jin˩]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJBēng Hō-jiân
Middle Chinese
Middle ChineseMɐng ɤâu-ńźjän

Meng Haoran (Chinese: 孟浩然; Wade–Giles: Meng Hao-jan; 689/691–740) was a Chinese poet and a major literary figure of the Tang dynasty. He was somewhat an older contemporary of Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu. Despite his brief pursuit of an official career, Meng Haoran spent most of his life in and around his hometown Xiangyang of the Hubei Province living like a hermit, while creating poems inspired by its landscapes and milieu.[1]

Meng Haoran was a major influence on both contemporary and subsequent poets of the Tang dynasty due to his excellency in Shanshui poetry and his composed, independent spirit.[1][2] Meng was prominently featured in the Qing dynasty (and subsequently frequently republished) poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, having the fifth largest number of poems selected for a total of fifteen, 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.[3]

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.

  1. ^ a b Longxi, Zhang (2022-08-30). A History of Chinese Literature (1 ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 109–120. doi:10.4324/9781003164173. ISBN 978-1-003-16417-3.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Kroll, Paul W. (2021-07-05). Owen, Stephen (ed.). The Poetry of Meng Haoran. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110734690. ISBN 978-3-11-073469-0.