姚合

Yao He was a poet of the Tang dynasty; public sources offer limited information about his dates and birthplace, which remain to be verified. Ten of his works are collected here, including "Cicadas Heard: Sent to Jia Dao," "Sent to Administrator Wang of Shanzhou," "Seeing off Secretary Wang Jian to Weinan Manor," "To General Lu," "Seeing off Liu Yuxi," "Seeing off the Monk Qingjing on His Return to Western Zhejiang," "Harmonizing with a Friend on His New Garden Home," and "Inscribing the New Pond in My Garden." Judging from these titles, his writing centers on poems of gift and reply, farewells for journeys, and inscriptions on gardens and dwellings, addressing both fellow officials and men of letters and monks and recluse friends; his subjects stay close to everyday social exchange and observed life. His style tends toward the clear and natural, using ordinary scenes and human affairs to convey feeling, with language plain and restrained. His works circulate in the categories of classical poetry and literary appreciation, offering later readers a reference for understanding Tang literati exchange and poetic manners.