陶潛（一名淵明）為中國文學史上偉大的詩人，他詩歌創作的成就與價值是絕對可以肯定的。他生於晉末宋初，幽居潯陽，他雖處田園，並非完全脫離現實的社會，為一出世而不忘世的詩人。東晉玄言詩充斥，南朝初年流行山水詩與唯美詩；陶詩高古，淡雅有深味，與其時詩風不相合，當世詩人亦不知尚。元嘉唯美詩人顏延之作〈陶徵土誄〉，於陶詩無所評論。永明詩人沈約作《宋書》，置淵明於〈隱逸傳〉，傳中引陶文，不論陶詩。當時劉勰《文心雕龍》〈明詩〉、〈才略〉諸篇，於陶詩隻字未提。鍾嶸《詩品》於陶詩雖有所評論，但列中品，謂為「古今隱逸詩人之宗」。在當時陶及其詩不受重視如此，至蕭統對陶詩始有比較高的評價。由於上述的背景及因素致影響陶的史傳定位；其後唐房喬等《晉書》，李延壽《南史》，皆置陶於〈隱逸傳〉，而不列於〈文苑傳〉或〈文學傳〉，致使陶之史傳定位失真。惟自唐至宋，陶及其詩受到普遍的重視，尤其宋蘇軾諸大家之極力推崇，建立陶在文學史上崇高定位，而還陶歷史定位之本真。至齊梁諸家評論之遺珠，或不適切，甚或不當者皆一一予以探究，並致其憾然。

Tao-Qian is the greatest poet in Chinese literature, the great value and accomplishment of his pieces is certainly doubtless. He was born in the early song and had a rustic lives, and his poetry is elegant and deliberated, although not suitable for the contemporary. The Poet Shen-Yue of Yeong Ming put Tao-Qian in the chapter 〈Hermit〉 of his book 《Song Shu》, and 《Wen Xin Diao Long》 written by Liu-Xie even not mention Tao-Qian, it means Tao-Qian and his poetry is so de-emphasied in his contemporary. Because of the background and factors, afterward the 《Jin Shu》 and 《The History of Nan》 all take Tao-Qian as a hermit, but not a poet. All this misunderstood Tao-Qian's historical role, and the critism of Qi and Ling are all the same. In the essay we will discuss about it seriatim.