Pan Yue

(247 - 300)

Born to a family of officials, Pan Yue spent most of his career holding prominent government posts. He was considered one of the finest poets of the Six Dynasties period, though only twenty of his poems survive today. His three poems to his wife, who died in 298, are his best-known works, written shortly after a yearlong mourning period that state officials undertook upon becoming widowers. Around 300 Pan was accused of involvement in a plot to overthrow the crown prince and executed along with his mother, brothers, and children.