Mei Yaochen

{{Short description|Chinese poet}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Song dynasty poet Mei Yaochen.jpg

| caption = Mei Yaochen, painted by Kanō Tsunenobu in the 18th century.

| name = Mei Yaochen

| native_name = 梅堯臣

| native_name_lang= zh-hant

| birth_name =

| other_names =

| birth_date = May 31, 1002

| birth_place = Xuancheng, Anhui, China

| death_date = {{death date and age|1060|05|27|1002|05|31}}

| death_place = Kaifeng, Henan, China

| death_cause =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Poet

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| movement =

| spouse =

| children = Mei Zeng
Mei Chi
Mei Tong
Mei Gui'er

| parents = Mei Rang

| relatives = Mei Miao
Mei Yuan

| awards =

| signature =

| signature_size =

| module = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes

|s = {{linktext|梅|尧|臣}}

|t = {{linktext|梅|堯|臣}}

|p = Méi Yáochén

|w = Mei Yao-ch'en

|altname = Shengyu

|s2 = {{linktext|圣|俞}}

|t2 = {{linktext|聖|俞}}

|l2 =

|p2 = Shèngyú

|altname3 = Wanling Xiansheng

|c3 = {{linktext|宛陵|先生}}

|l3 =

|p3 = Wǎnlíng Xiānshēng

}}

}}

{{family name hatnote|Mei|lang=Chinese}}

Mei Yaochen ({{CJKV|t=梅堯臣|s=梅尧臣|p=Méi Yáochén|w=Mei Yao-ch'en}}) (1002–1060) was a Chinese poet of the Song dynasty. He was one of the pioneers of the "new subjective" style of poetry which characterized Song poetry.Cihai: Page 1306.

Mei Yaochen was born in Xuancheng in present-day Anhui Province. His style name was 'Sheng Yu' ({{lang|zh|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.

Most of his works are in the shi form, but they are much freer in content than those of the Tang dynasty. 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. His early verses are often socio-critical, advocating reform along Neo-Confucian lines; later he turned to celebrations of ordinary life and verses mourning the deaths of his first wife and several of his children.

An example is his poem translated into English by Kenneth Rexroth as "An Excuse for Not Returning the Visit of a Friend."