During the Northern Song dynasty, influential literati figures such as Su Shi declared him a paragon of authenticity and spontaneity in poetry, predicting that he would achieve lasting literary fame.

[2] But Tao's inclusion in the 6th-century literary anthology Wen Xuan implies he began to gain fame in his own era, at least in his birth area.

After this, he refers to himself in his earlier writings as "Yuanming"; but it is thought that with the Eastern Jin dynasty's demise in 420, he began to call himself "Qian", meaning "hiding", to signify his final withdrawal into the quiet life in the country and decision to avoid participation in the political scene.

This began before Tao Yuanming's birth, when Sima Yan usurped the throne of the Cao Wei dynasty's monarchal ruler, establishing its headquarters at the western capital of Chang'an and renaming the kingdom Jin.

When the territory north of the Yangzi was captured, a prince in the south, Sima Rui, set up a new Jin dynasty state with a capital at Jiankang.

[9] Tao Yuanming was born during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420), in Chaisang, which is now a district of the city of Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province.

Tao Yuanming is generally believed to have been born in the year 365 CE in Chaisang[4] (柴桑; modern Jiujiang), an area of great natural beauty.

When he was 18 or 19, both the invasion by the state of Former Qin (ruled by an ethnically Hu dynasty) and the events culminating in the Battle of Fei River (383) occurred; after great risk to the existence of Eastern Jin, this, against the odds, resulted in gains of territory north of the Yangzi, while also whetting Eastern Jin appetites for reconquering the former northern territories.

Many events occurred during Tao's lifetime, including two revolts leading to the usurpation of the throne, and, in his old age, the overthrow of Eastern Jin.

This incident later became the subject of the paintings of "Three Laughing Men at Tiger Creek" (虎溪三笑; Pinyin: hǔ xī sān xiào).

[9] Tao Yuanming did more than ten years of government service, personally involved with the sordid political scene of the times,[12] which he did in five stints.

[13] Tao served in both civil and military capacities, making several trips down the Yangzi to the capital Jiankang,[4] then a thriving metropolis and the center of power during the Six Dynasties.

His father was emperor Xiaowu, who named him crown prince in 387 despite his extreme developmental disabilities (he could not dress himself, speak, or generally communicate).

Acting as regent, actual control of the empire was in the hands of An's father's younger brother Sima Daozi, who could dress himself and communicate verbally, but nevertheless was not that capable a ruler, with a reputation for feasting and drinking rather than attending to affairs of state, and surrounding himself with flatterers.

Another reason, given by his biographer Xiao Tong, was that Tao was faced with the imminent imposition of an onerous supervisor, whom he was told he "had to treat right", and which was the occasion of him saying, "I won't bow to a bucolic boy for the sake of five pecks of rice."

As Tao himself put it, he would not "bow like a servant in return for five pecks of grain" (為五斗米折腰), a saying which has entered common usage meaning "swallowing one's pride in exchange for a meager existence".

In these texts, Tao deprecates artificial limits or restrictions in interpersonal relationships, instead expressing the desire for a simple life, with nature taking its course.

His ability to absorb and creatively employ the three diverse religions/philosophies leads Florence Chia-ying Yeh to say: "Among the Chinese poets, Tao Yuanming had the greatest perseverance and integrity.

"[9] His main biographies give Tao Yuanming's death as "in the fourth year of the Yuanjia reign period of Emperor Wen".

Tao's simple and plain style of expression, reflecting his back-to-basics lifestyle, first became better known as he achieved local fame as a hermit.

Tao's poems, prose and their combination of form and theme into his own style broke new ground and became a fondly relied upon historical landmark.

Much subsequent Chinese painting and literature would require no more than the mention or image of chrysanthemums by the eastern fence to call to mind Tao Yuanming's life and poetry.

[19] Poem number five of Tao's "Drinking Wine" series is translated by Arthur Waley: I built my hut in a zone of human habitation

Steady the smoke of the half-deserted village, A dog barks somewhere in the deep lanes, A cock crows at the top of the mulberry tree.

"[21] In Poetry Gradings (詩品) Zhong Rong wrote: [Yuanming's] sincerity is true and traditional, his verbalized inspirations supple and relaxed.

But such lines of his as "With happy face I pour the spring-brewed wine," and "The sun sets, no clouds are in the sky," are pure and refined in the beauty of their air.

Su Shi exalted Yuanming's "unadorned and yet beautiful, spare and yet ample" poems, and even asserted that "neither Cao Zhi, Liu Zhen, Bao Zhao, Xie Lingyun, Li Bai, nor Du Fu achieves his stature".

[22] Huang Tingjian (1045–1105), one of the Four Masters of the Song dynasty and a younger friend of Su Shi, said, "“When you’ve just come of age, reading these poems seems like gnawing on withered wood.

"[24] In Great lives from history (1988), Frank Northen Magill highlights the "candid beauty" of Yuanming's poetry, stating that the "freshness of his images, his homespun but Heaven-aspiring morality, and his steadfast love of rural life shine through the deceptively humble words in which they are expressed, and as a consequence he has long been regarded one of China's most accomplished and accessible poets.

"[25] He also discusses what makes Yuanming unique as a poet, and why his works were perhaps overlooked by his contemporaries: It is this fundamental love of simplicity that distinguishes T'ao Ch'ien's verses from the works of court poets of his time, who utilized obscure allusions and complicated stylistic devices to fashion verses that appealed only to the highly educated.