Background
Mei Yaochen was born in Xuancheng in present-day Anhui Province.
梅堯臣, 梅尧臣
Mei Yaochen was born in Xuancheng in present-day Anhui Province.
He was one of the pioneers of the "new subjective" style of poetry which characterized Song poetry. His style name was "Sheng Yu" (圣俞). He passed the jinshi exam in 1051 and had a career in the civil service, but was unsuccessful.
He was a prolific poet, with around 3000 works extant.
He was popularized as a poet by the younger Ouyang Xiu. His response to the impossibility of surpassing the Tang poets was to make a virtue of his lack of ambition.
His ideal was 平淡 (pingdan), or the pedestrian.