Dou Gong 772?-831?

A native of present-day Shaanxi, Dou was born into a literary family: his father and four elder brothers were all poets. Well-read from an early age, he gained the jinshi degree in 807. He held several posts before he was appointed Deputy Surveillance Commissioner in Hangzhou and, later, Wuchang, serving under Yuan Zhen. A refined and erudite poet known especially for his quatrains, Dou Gong's poems are collected, along with the works of his four brothers, in Doushi lianzhu ji [Pearls of poetry from the Dou family]. Some forty of his poems are in Quan Tang shi.

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