Tao Yuanming (365–427), also known as Tao Qian (Hanyu Pinyin) or T'ao Ch'ien (Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420) and died during the Liu Song (420-479) dynasty (Jin-Song transition). Tao Yuanming spent much of his life in reclusion, living in the countryside, farming, reading, drinking wine, receiving the occasional guest, and writing poems in which he often reflected on the pleasures and difficulties of life, as well as his decision to withdraw from civil service. Tao's simple and direct style was somewhat at odds with the norms for literary writing in his time. Relatively well-known as a recluse poet in the Tang dynasty (618-907), during the Northern Song