Brief introduction of Bai Juyi's life

Bai Juyi (AD 772-846), Li Bai (AD 7065438+AD 762) and Du Fu (AD 765438+AD 770) were among the greatest poets in the Tang Dynasty. He is a * * * official, because he doesn't obey the rules or do what his superiors think should be done, he has had many disputes with the authorities.

Bai Juyi, on the other hand, is too lazy to follow the rules that he thinks are stupid or illogical.

He is a poet first, and he follows his heart. Unlike Li Bai, Bai Juyi is not well-known in the west, but he is very popular in China. His most famous poem is "Song of Eternal Sorrow" (also known as "Song of Eternal Sorrow" or "Song of Eternal Sorrow"), which was published in 806 A.D. and is still so today. In China, this poem is still a must-read in schools.

Bai Juyi is known as Yuanhe's simple and easy-to-understand writing style, which is deeply loved by the public (although not so much for critics). Because of this, and his habit of publishing his own works, most of his poems have been handed down to this day. For centuries, people still admire it.

Early life

Bai Juyi was born in 772 AD in Xinsheng County near Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. He comes from many scholars and officials. His family is poor and life is difficult, but they guarantee him free education. He began to write poetry at the age of twelve, when his family moved to another province because of his political turmoil.

At the age of sixteen, Bai went to Chang 'an and dedicated his poems to the famous poet Gu Kuang. Mr. Gu was impressed by his work and suggested that he take the imperial examination and work for * * *. Many poets work for * * * because it is a stable job, which they can easily finish, which gives them time to write poems. When Bai was preparing for the exam, his father died and his family had no livelihood.

Bai studied in a hurry, hoping to find a job to help his family, but in the end he failed the exam. He mourned for his father for three years and was exiled to his ancestral home on the outskirts of Chang 'an. He devoted himself to poetry creation, and it was during this period that he wrote the Song of Eternal Sorrow in 806 AD. After three years of mourning, he returned to Chang 'an to take the exam and passed at the age of 20.

He found a job as an archivist and made friends with other young poets who recently passed the exam. One of them is Yuan Zhen (l. 779-83 1 CE), a famous writer, poet and scholar, who will become Bai's closest friend. Both Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi are very outspoken and concerned about social injustice and political corruption. Although they are all for * * *, they have not surpassed the officials who criticized their abuse of power. Yuan Zhen wrote more implicitly and put forward suggestions for improvement, but Bai Juyi directly expressed his thoughts in his poems, which caused him trouble more than once.

Poetry and exile

He wrote a poem called "Stop the War" to respond to conflicts that he thought were unnecessary, and criticized some officials above him. In 8 15 AD, Prime Minister Wu was assassinated. Bai wrote a poem praising him without waiting for a high-ranking person to express his opinion first. This violation of the agreement made him more enemies, and they seized the first opportunity to find him exiled.

Bai's mother fell into the well and died on 8 15. Shortly thereafter, three years before his resignation, Bai published two poems, Appreciation of Flowers and New Well. His enemies claimed that it was an infringement of filial piety, because he used his mother's death for his own personal gain. Get it. Bai was found guilty, demoted and exiled to Xunyang City by the Yangtze River.

Here, he devoted himself to poetry again. After mourning and exile, he went to Yichang to visit Yuan Zhen (also in exile). They explored caves together and drank beer and wine by the river, which became the theme of many poems in the late Bai Dynasty. Together, they perfected Yuan and its related styles.

* * * Work and reputation

In August19, Bai was recalled to Chang 'an as the administrative secretary. He worked in this position for several years without any trouble, but in 8265438 AD, he wrote many poems criticizing Emperor Mu Zong. The whole court in Mu Zong was corrupt, but the emperor himself did nothing but drink and have fun all day. Bai Juyi's poetry criticism is not enough for exile or more severe punishment, but it is still considered disrespectful. He was sent from Chang 'an court to Zhongzhou, Sichuan, as a small secretariat.

White feather clothes are easy to understand and make people understand. Although people like his poems, many critics don't; For the same reason.

At this time, white poems have become very popular. He writes in a simple style that people can understand. It is said that he will read his poems to illiterate servants, and if they don't understand a word or line immediately, he will simplify it.

Although people like his poems, many critics don't; For the same reason. Literary critics at that time thought that his poems were too emotional, simple and emotional, rather than providing a harmonious experience. Bai ignored them and continued to print and distribute his works to the public.

In 822 AD, he was appointed as the governor of Hangzhou, making profits for the people, not following the etiquette and asking his superiors. Farmers living near the West Lake rely on a stable water source to grow crops, but due to the corruption of local officials, the dam regulating the water source collapsed. He came for nothing and saw that people were suffering from the damaged dam every day, so he rebuilt it, which was better than the previous dam. He also ordered a sidewalk to be built on the lake, so that people would not have to pay the high price of local ferrymen to cross the lake.

Bai writes poems in his spare time and visits Yuan Zhen, who holds the post of * * * nearby. He was also promoted to the position of a royal tutor with a high salary. He is married now, although his wife's name is unknown. In 829, his two-year-old son died, and Yuan Zhen died shortly after 83 1 year. It's time to take power for nothing. He lived in seclusion in a manor in Luoyang. At some point after his son died and retired, his wife must have died, too, because she was not mentioned later.

Retirement and death

Bai Juyi loves nature and insists on giving priority to gardens. Scholar Charles Benn wrote: "Residential areas only account for 18% of nearly two and a half acres of real estate. The rest is a garden, with a lake (accounting for 29% of the land) and a huge bamboo forest (accounting for 53% of the land) ... After retiring from the office, he began to renovate the garden business "(92). He built a granary that can store as much as 1700 bushels of grain, a library with a large number of books, a pavilion for parties, and formed three artificial mountains in his lake as symbols of God's land.

In the last few years of his life, he entertained his friends and wrote poems without any reward. His poems were copied and distributed throughout the region. His two most famous works, Song of Eternal Sorrow and Pipa Travel, have long been household names and are sold in libraries and bookstores. His party became a major event in this description:

Whenever he holds a party, he and his guests will go out on his cruise ship. Behind the underwater spacecraft, there is a 1 10 waterproof bag, which contains beer and barbecue. Whenever one party runs out of a bag, the poet's entourage will take out another bag to please his companion. Bai also has a troupe of 10 singers, dancers and musicians After the guzheng was played, the guests were as drunk as a fiddler, so they sent artists to the pavilions of the island in the lake to play the opening song of the famous song "Rainbow Skirt". (92)

After Bai retired from * * *, he called himself a hermit, but he continued to entertain people and write poems until he suffered a stroke in 839 AD. After that, his poems became more gloomy and he had to stop entertaining guests. He died in 846 AD at the age of 75. He asked to build a simple tomb near a nearby temple, but was buried in the famous White Buddha Cave near Longmen Grottoes and was proud of this monument.

Poetry and heritage

Bai Juyi wrote nearly 3000 poems in his life, most of which were preserved because of their popularity. He was called "People's Poet" in the Tang Dynasty, because his works were different from those of Li Bai or Du Fu, and his works were accepted by everyone. His themes were considered to be beyond the principles of Confucian poetics.

Rewi alley, a translator and scholar of Bai Juyi's most famous English works, wrote:

Bai regrets that he didn't write more poems about social problems, nor did he devote himself to his poems with greater faith. However, some people suspect that some social critical poems of Bai and Yuan were deleted from their works by later editors. In fact, although many folio poems by Bai Juyi have been handed down, most of Yuan's poems of this type have been lost. It is worth mentioning that although excellent poets have the habit of praising others, Bai Di denied this honor. This shows that his social and political poems have finally achieved their goals. (6)

Bai believes that the purpose of poetry or any writing is to promote social justice and understanding. Avery wrote that he "firmly believes that the basic function of poetry is to preach-to let the ruling class know the living conditions of the people" (6). He doesn't even think that his most famous poem "Song of Eternal Sorrow" is one of his best poems, because it involves royalty and war, not the struggle between the working class and them for a dignified life under corruption.

Song of Eternal Sorrow is a love tragedy between Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (7 12-756 reigned) and Yang. During the reign of Xuanzong, the An Lushan Rebellion happened, and Yang and his family were criticized. Unless Yang and her family were executed, Xuanzong's military generals refused to help quell the rebellion.

In the poem, this event was traced back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) to make it more romantic. But the story is the same: in order to win the war, the emperor must let his true love be killed. Although this poem involves many themes that Bai often explores, it involves people and situations higher than what he thinks is his best work.

Not all Bai Juyi's poems, even so many poems, are sad or heavy. His short poem "Reading Laozi" is not only humorous, but also puts forward excellent views. The philosopher Lao Zi (also known as Lao Zi) is famous for "the speaker doesn't know, the knower doesn't speak". It is said that he is the author of the 5000-word Taoist book Tao Te Ching. Bai Juyi expressed many people's thoughts for many years in this poem:

Lao Tzu told me.

, the speaker.

Know nothing, and

A truly learned person is silent.

People say Lao Tzu

Really sensible; Then why is he?

To write those five thousand words?

His other poems are sometimes quiet descriptions of scenes or landscapes, thoughts about family and friends or starting a new job, written pictures of working-class life, or just observations of life. In his poem "Haunted House", he reflects how stupid people are afraid of haunted houses, because "this is a dangerous situation created by one person; The house itself is not good "(alley, 108). People in Bai Juyi's era were deeply afraid of ghosts and the problems they brought to the living. When Bai Juyi criticized ghosts, almost everything he did violated the tradition.

The poetic style created by Bai Juyi and shared with Yuan Zhen is called Yuanhe, which is a simple and direct way of writing and can be communicated immediately without too many symbols or allusions. This style influenced all the poets after him to varying degrees, and had a great influence on Japanese literature. The Tale of Genji, a great Japanese classic novel, has quoted Bai Juyi's works many times, and its style also complements Bai Juyi's. However, Bai's greatest legacy lies not only in creating an important and influential poetic style, but also in making poets accept the real life they saw, rather than the life people wanted or hoped for.