Young and talented in poetry
Unlike Li Bai and Du Fu, Bai Juyi did not experience the prosperity of Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty. For him, "recalling the heyday of Kaiyuan, there were thousands of families in a small town" should only be heard from his parents.
In 772, seven years after the Anshi Rebellion in Tang Daizong, Bai Juyi was born in Xinzheng, Henan. The "Anshi Rebellion" was the turning point of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. At this time, the prosperous time of the Tang Dynasty, which has been praised by people, has gone forever under the destruction of the military revolution in the past decade, followed by the separatist regime and eunuch dictatorship, and the people were displaced and lived in poverty.
Bai Juyi was born in a scholarly family, and his father Bai served as several local officials. He is honest and clean, living the life of an ordinary official. When Bai Juyi was eleven or twelve years old, he was catching up with the warlord Li, who divided more than ten States in Henan and disobeyed the imperial order. Bai was promoted to assistant minister of Xuzhou secretariat because he persuaded Li Yan, the secretariat of Xuzhou, to break free from the shackles of Li Na caused by Pinglu and obey the central authorities. Seeing that the war in the north would continue, he decided to send his son to the south for refuge. In this way, Bai Juyi, who is not yet an adult, lived a life of running from north to south. This painful experience had a great influence on his later becoming a realistic poet who understood people's sufferings and cared about people's lives. He wrote in a poem: "It is hard to starve in one year, and brothers and sisters run around here and there." My fields and gardens were destroyed by the war, and my own flesh and blood became the scum of the street. " Full of sympathy and sadness for the hardships of people's lives.
Bai Juyi began to write poetry very early, with a high level. It is said that there is such a story: at the age of sixteen, Bai Juyi arrived in Chang 'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. On one occasion, he took his poems to visit the famous poet Gu Kuang. Gu Kuang is proud and doesn't care about other people's works, especially Bai Juyi, who is 16 years old. He saw the words "Bai Juyi" on the scroll and joked: Bai Juyi? Do you know that rice in Chang 'an is expensive and it is not easy to live in vain? But when he opened the manuscript, he was immediately moved by many touching poems, especially when he read that "the grass is boundless on the plain and comes and goes with every season." Wildfire can't burn it out, but the spring breeze can revive it. Weeds and wild flowers are all over the ancient road, and the end of the grass in the sun is your journey. Ah, the prince's friend, you left again, and I heard them sighing after you. "The song" Farewell to Fu Gu Cao Yuan "was even more surprising, and I repeatedly recited it and appreciated it very much. Then I changed my mind and said: It is not difficult to write such a good poem and live in Chang 'an.
This poem is still recited by people today. Spring grass is tenacious, even if wildfires are raging, there is nothing to do. The poem describes the reality of nature, and at the same time, it relates that people should be as tenacious as weeds, not afraid of suffering, and should survive tenaciously. It should be said that this is Bai Juyi's feeling and sigh after his wandering life, which is sincere and full of charm, and also reflects the poet Bai Juyi's talent and poetic attainments.
Living in Chang 'an is really expensive. At that time, Bai Juyi had not been an official, and the pressure of life made him feel very difficult. About two or three years later, Bai Juyi returned to his hometown from Chang 'an. Bai Juyi, who returned to China, was not complacent and complacent because of some achievements he had made. His ambition is to be a man of real talent and learning. So, he studies harder. Later, when he recalled his study time, he said: Reading Fu during the day, reading poetry at night, practicing calligraphy on the case every day, and his elbows are calloused.
Bai Juyi studied hard in order to take the road of imperial examination. At that time, achieving fame through the imperial examination was the best way out for scholars. In 799, in the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan in Dezong, Bai Juyi, 28, met Cui Yan, an observer from Yun Xuan. Cui Yan appreciated him very much and chose him to take the exam. Bai Juyi didn't live up to Cui Yan's hope, and in the second year he was the fourth Jinshi. It was a great honor to be admitted to Jinshi at that time. At this time, although Bai Juyi is 29 years old, he is the youngest among the 17 people who have been admitted to Jinshi. Thus came the poem "Guenta inscribed the title, the youngest among seventeen people". Traditionally, those who passed the examination in the Tang Dynasty should inscribe their names on the Jionji Pagoda (Big Wild Goose Pagoda) to show their glory.
Four years later, Bai Juyi took the official department exam and ranked first. He was appointed as the school bookkeeper of the secretariat province (the official agency of the ancient central government in charge of books). This position is responsible for the management of the country's books, and the level is relatively low, and there is no opportunity to display his ambitions and talents, which makes Bai Juyi quite unhappy. Also an official exam, Yuan Zhen was appointed as the secretary lang. Bai Yuan's profound friendship began from then on, and it became a much-told story.
When he became a bookkeeper in the school, he also entered the officialdom. However, what Bai Juyi saw was the unbearable scene of fame and fortune, mutual exclusion and nepotism in officialdom. On one occasion, he said indignantly, "Chang 'an is nothing but a vanity fair with both fame and fortune, which makes the chickens and dogs restless. "This is a blow and a stimulus for a newcomer to officialdom who has lofty ideals.
At the beginning of Xian Zongyuan and Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen had to make a plan. The two of them "closed their doors for months, trying to figure out contemporary things" and wrote their own ideas into words, which eventually became seventy-five articles in "Ce Lin". When we mention Bai Juyi today, we are talking more about his poems. In fact, his political thoughts are also very insightful. Seeing the corruption in state affairs, he thought that in order to make national politics clear, it was necessary to publicize it widely, so as to touch people's feelings. Therefore, he admired the system of poets in the Zhou Dynasty, and thought it was the only way to "be harmonious from top to bottom and please both inside and outside". In addition, Bai Juyi believes that the weakness of the country, political corruption and people's poverty are, in the final analysis, caused by the decadence, extravagance and war of the ruling group. Therefore, he put forward the idea of "practicing economy, balancing the rich and the poor, prohibiting mergers and stopping thieves from retreating" and put forward a series of concrete measures. It should be said that Bai Juyi's analysis of the situation at that time was correct and comprehensive. Although he is not a senior official, he actually expressed his ideas from the perspective of national interests and people's livelihood.
▲ "Bai Xiangshan Poetry Collection" written by Bai Juyi
Care about the sufferings of the people and dare to speak out.
In the first year of Xian Zongyuan (806), Bai Juyi took the imperial examination. He pointed out that to appease the people, it is necessary to reduce taxes, and whether thieves exist depends on the quality of officials. These words are to the point and insightful. But it also touched the scars of officials, which the examiner didn't want to see, so they gave Bai Juyi a small official position-Zhen (ZH Fei Wu Zhi, now Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province) county commandant, on the grounds that he was too outspoken.
County commandant and county cheng are both assistant officers of county magistrate, in charge of public security and catching thieves. Of course, this is not the position that Bai Juyi wants to do, so there is a sigh of "one is to drive away officials, and the dust does not open." However, the position of county commandant gave Bai Juyi more opportunities to get in touch with farmers, and also made him feel the sufferings of farmers more deeply. Therefore, many images of working people appeared in his works, and at the same time, he exposed and condemned the extravagance and waste of the rulers at that time. Among them, there is a poem that people are familiar with, that is, "Look at the Wheat Cutting". "Tian Jia has less leisure, and people are twice as busy in May." As soon as I came up, I described the scene of farmers working hard in the fields. Then, there was an even worse scene: "Another poor woman with a child in her arms. Grab the ear with your right hand and hang the basket with your left arm. Listening to his words of concern is very sad. My family's taxes are gone, so I can take this to satisfy my hunger. " It turns out that all the wheat cut by the poor woman's family has been used to pay taxes, and now she can only make a living by picking up some ears of wheat. This scene can't be compared with The Rule of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan Shengshi. At that time, regardless of the lives of the people, the government blindly demanded expropriation. Finally, the poet sighed: "What merit have I made today? I have never worked as a farmer. There are three hundred stones in the land, and there is surplus food at the age of eight. I feel ashamed to see this privately, and I can't forget it every day. " Bai Juyi did not escape from reality because of his position. He made a sharp contrast between the hardships of farmers and the affluence of his own life, and felt ashamed of it, which is the embodiment of his thought of loving the people and attaching importance to agriculture. In fact, the salary of county commandant is not high. Bai Juyi actually has a dark ratio here, that is, those dignitaries in Beijing are not sure how much higher their salary is. They only know how to live a luxurious life, regardless of the people's food and clothing. This is an official's dereliction of duty, even a sin. The realistic elements in Bai Juyi's poems are reflected here.
This place is not far from Maweipo. When it comes to Ma Yipo, people will think of "An Shi Rebellion", Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. This is where Yang Guifei hanged herself. On one occasion, the county commandant Bai Juyi and his friends Chen Hong and Wang Zhifu visited Xianyou Temple near Maweipo and talked about Li Longji and Yang Guifei, which caused many feelings. A friend advised Bai Juyi to write this story into a long narrative poem, so there was a song of everlasting regret. This poem, on the one hand, reflects the poet's sympathy for the love tragedy between Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei, and more importantly, through this period of history, let future generations know that the monarch did not think about the end of state affairs and take this as a warning.
In the autumn of the second year of Yuanhe (807), Bai Juyi was recalled to Chang 'an and became a bachelor of Hanlin (responsible for drafting imperial edicts for the emperor). In May of the following year, Zuo Shiyi took over. Thus began his three-year career as an admonition officer. Gleaning is an admonisher. Although his position is not high, he has the right and opportunity to criticize state affairs and state his views to the emperor. For Bai Juyi who wants to make a difference, it is naturally very happy to get this office. Moreover, he also expressed his emphasis on this job and his determination to do his best: "Since I was appointed as an official, I have only eaten for more than ten days, without any taste or sleep, and I just want to answer my special favor with my body."
Sure enough, Bai Juyi did not go against his original intention. When he was in office, he dared to remonstrate, speak out about political gains and losses, and express his opinions. He called for the exemption of taxes in Jianghuai to save the victims in dire straits, and also called for the release of imperial secretaries to reduce court expenses. On one occasion, Xian Zong asked his minion, Ce Shen's lieutenant, to spit out Cheng Cui and lead troops to crusade against Wang Chengzong's rebellion. At that time, eunuchs were overbearing and even dominated the state affairs because of the emperor's favor. If eunuchs are allowed to lead troops again, their potential flames will be even more arrogant. So Bai Juyi wrote a letter against it, and his words were very fierce. He even argued with the emperor face to face and said loudly, "You are wrong!" " Xianzong was furious and said to Li Jiang, the minister, "Bai Juyi was promoted by me. It is really unbearable to dare to be so presumptuous." Thanks to Li Jiang's mediation, Bai Juyi was not punished. In his poems, he also expressed his integrity: "The most precious thing has its nature, it is fine and just. Although it can be broken within an inch, it can't make it bend and turn around its fingers. I hope it can make honest people faster, and it will be used to cut off the head of a traitor. I don't want to complain, and I stab myself in the middle of the night. "
During this period, another thing happened, that is, Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi's good friend, was demoted to Cao Jun, the top scholar of Jiangling Mansion by the supervision suggestion. The reason is that Yuan Zhen did not avoid power when making suggestions, so he was hated by people with power. Bai Juyi was so angry that he risked his life to write three times. In his recitation, he enumerated many sins of framing powerful officials and eunuchs of Yuan Zhen. Of course, Bai Juyi failed to save Yuan Zhen, but he wrote the fable poem He Dazuiwu. Poets use big mouths to represent cunning dignitaries and parrots to represent honest and outspoken remonstrators. Dazuiwu succeeded because he was good at cheating, but the parrot was convicted because of his rude remarks. The poet expressed his dissatisfaction with the unreasonable social reality here, which further reflected his sense of justice.
Three years of remonstrating with officials is also the golden age of Bai Juyi's creation. His most popular allegorical poems (including fifty poems by New Yuefu and Qin Zhongyin) were written at this time. He also put forward his own creative principles: "Articles should be written in time, and songs and poems should be written well." Regard poetry as a reflection of the social outlook at that time and directly serve the politics at that time.
The most famous poem in New Yuefu is Selling Charcoal Weng. This poem is to expose the crime of "Palace History". At that time, the government was responsible for purchasing the daily necessities needed by the court from the people. At the end of Zhenyuan in Dezong, it was directly handled by eunuchs. Hundreds of people are often sent to busy neighborhoods. When they see what they need, they call it "palace market", paying a little price at will, and asking the owner to send it to the palace to extort "portal money" and "foot price" from them. This disadvantage has caused great pain to businessmen and craftsmen. The charcoal-burning Weng in the poem, with a dusty face and fireworks, gray temples and black fingers, worked hard to burn a car full of charcoal. He wanted to earn a good price to make a living, but he met the "palace market" in charge of purchasing. "Half horse red yarn was full of silk and went straight to Niutou." What a shameless act this is. Here, the poet exposed and criticized their robbery and sin.
In addition, there are poems that expose the extravagant and flashy life of rulers, such as "Red Carpet" and "Buying Flowers". The red carpet is a kind of red soft brocade carpet produced in Xuanzhou (now Xuancheng, Anhui), which is woven with precious silk thread. In order to please the emperor, the satrap of Xuanzhou forced the people to weave red carpets for the court every year. Finally, the poet accused the satrap of saying, "Does the satrap of Xuancheng know? A foot of carpet, 1200 silk. I don't know if cold people should be warm, take less clothes and make lichens. " It is also conceivable that the people are still blindly exploiting for the officials without keeping warm, and the class contradictions are constantly sharp.
Bai Juyi's satirical poems have a wide range of themes, face the social reality directly and expose the dark and ugly side of the rulers in order to arouse public opinion and promote political reform. However, this practice has been hated by powerful people.
This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeves are wet.
In the fifth year of Xian Zongyuan (8 10), Bai Juyi's term as a left-handed man expired. When he was an remonstrator, he spoke frankly and offended many dignitaries, and many people regarded him as a thorn in their side. So he found an excuse to transfer him to Beijing to recruit and join the army. This is a pie in the sky, and a pie in the sky. In fact, it is to expel him from the ranks of the recent ministers and deprive him of his right to remonstrate. The following year, Bai Juyi's mother died, so he had to be filial for three years. Therefore, Bai Juyi's family lives in a small village on the north bank of Weihe River.
During the mourning period, Bai Juyi often interacted with farmers, so he learned more about the sufferings of the people. During this time, his life was poor and he lost his salary. He only relies on a few friends to send money and things from time to time to support his family. However, his mood is cheerful. In North Korea, he felt the ruthlessness of mutual fraud, mutual exclusion and mutual frame-up. Here, he came into contact with hardworking and simple workers, which made him breathe a sigh of relief and enjoyed the "human touch" here, so he wrote a poem: "Old and young have known each other for a long time."
Three years later, Bai Juyi is facing the choice of the future. Should he retire or return to politics? Bai Juyi chose the latter because he still wanted to do his best and make a difference.
In the 9th year of Yuanhe (8 14), Bai Juyi re-entered Chang 'an. His official position is Dr. Zuo Shanzan, a leisure official who specializes in accompanying the prince to study. The emperor's meaning is very clear, that is, don't ask about political affairs and do a good job in "civil affairs." This is inconsistent with Bai Juyi's original intention. More unfortunately, the next year (8 15), a storm hit him. At that time, Sok Li Road secretly sent someone to assassinate the Prime Minister Wu and stabbed Pei Du, assistant minister of punishments. Bai Juyi thought it was a great shame for the country and could not tolerate this kind of rebellion, so he angrily wrote a letter demanding the assassination. At that time, the powerful people had already held a grudge against Bai Juyi's outspoken views. This time, they seized the opportunity to attack Bai Juyi on the pretext that Bai Juyi was not an admonition officer, but overstepped his post and wrote a letter that did not conform to the legal system. In the end, Bai Juyi was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima by a paper order. In the Tang Dynasty, the position of Sima had no real power, and it was only a name reserved for the demoted officials.
Shortly after arriving in Jiangzhou, Bai Juyi wrote a long letter to his old friend Yuan Zhen, which was "Nine Books with Yuan". In the letter, Bai Juyi summed up his creative activities and literary thoughts for decades. Bai Juyi believes that literature is a tool to reflect social reality. He cited some ancient folk songs and thought that literature was rooted in social real life from the beginning. The value of literature is that it can truly reflect the face of society and help people clearly understand social problems. Therefore, he opposed the formalistic works of "playing tricks on the snow" and emphasized that literature should serve the improvement of society.
In addition, Bai Juyi also talked about the characteristics of poetry, thinking that poetry does not convince people with theory, but infects people with deep emotions. For example, he said that if poetry is a tree, emotion is the root, language is the seedling leaf, rhyme is the flower, and meaning is the fruit. Poetry without feelings is a fruit tree without roots and lifeless. A good poem should be a combination of thoughts and feelings and language art, among which thoughts and feelings are particularly important, which is the life and value of a poem. He also particularly appreciates the Book of Songs, and thinks that there are many excellent folk songs that describe people's lives and express people's thoughts and wishes. Its value lies in that it directly reflects people's sufferings and expresses people's love and hate.
These literary and poetic theories of Bai Juyi are of progressive significance. His poems not only have feelings, but also reflect people's life and social reality, so he became a great realistic poet in China and made positive contributions to the development of realistic literature in China. In Jiangzhou Sima Ren, he wrote a long poem Pipa Xing. If we understand the poet's experience and situation, we can clearly know that "Jiangzhou Sima" refers to the poet himself. This poem also had an influence on later classical operas. According to this poem, Ma Zhiyuan, a dramatist in Yuan Dynasty, wrote the play "Shirt Tears", and Jiang Shiquan, a scholar and dramatist in Qing Dynasty, also wrote the play "Four Strings in Autumn". Today, some famous lines in this poem, such as "However, before she came to us, we called for a thousand times and urged her for a thousand times, but she still hid half of her face behind her guitar so that we wouldn't see it", "Humming, whispering-and then mixing them together, just like pouring pearls, big and small", "Going into the depth of sadness and the concealment of sadness, telling in silence. We understand. What is the relationship between acquaintances? ",is still being told by people.
In December of the 13th year of Yuanhe (8 18), Bai Juyi was given an imperial edict, and was promoted from Sima in Jiangzhou to the secretariat of Zhongzhou (governing Zhongxian County in Chongqing today). After Bai Juyi came to power, he tried his best to reduce the corvee tax, personally guided the people to reclaim wasteland, developed production and improved the lives of local people.
In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe (820), Tang Xianzong died, Mu Zong succeeded to the throne, and Bai Juyi was recalled to Chang 'an. This time, at the age of nearly 50, he is still full of ambition and wants to take on the heavy responsibility of governing the country. Who knows, Mu Zong recalled him mainly because he took a fancy to his literary talent, not his political talent. Bai Juyi wrote gains and losses several times, but Mu Zong refused. Faced with this situation, Bai Juyi was a little depressed. He thought, instead of being so mediocre, it is better to be a local official and do something for the people.
In the second year of Mu Zong Changqing (822), Bai Juyi was transferred to Hangzhou Secretariat. Here, he did a lot of practical things for the people, such as dredging waterways, solving the difficulties of residents' domestic water use, repairing dikes, diverting lake water to irrigate fields and so on. In the fourth year of Changqing, Bai Juyi was transferred to Luoyang after his term of office expired. Before leaving, Hangzhou people went out to see them off one after another, expressing their reluctance.
Shortly after arriving in Luoyang, in the first year of Zongbaoli (825), Bai Juyi received an order to go to Suzhou as a secretariat. So he went to the south again. When he took office in Suzhou, he still remembered the sufferings of the people and worked conscientiously. However, due to physical reasons, he took the initiative to apply for resignation and was approved. When he left Suzhou, he wrote a poem "Farewell to Suzhou" to express his feelings: "The vast number of Suzhou people are gloomy in Changzhou. To shame the lotus flower for ruining its life, to shame its incompetence. Lanzi wants to be an official and go public in vain. Worship the water for a while, and travel ten miles with the boat for a while. The feast is not collected, and the levy cannot be stopped. Slightly separated from the smoke trees, you can still hear the sound of silk and bamboo. Looking at Wuqiu Road, I meditated on Shuige. I'm glad to go back to my hometown. Can I go to the county without mercy? "
Since then, Bai Juyi has been an official for several times, and it was not until the second year of Wuzong Huichang (842) that he officially resigned at the age of 71. In the fourth year of Huichang (844), Bai Juyi lived in Luoyang. At this time, life was carefree, but he still didn't forget the sufferings of the people, so he threw himself into it and did a great thing for the people. At that time, there were so-called "Bajie Beach" and "Jiuqiao Stone" in the south of Longmen Beach in Luoyang. Many natural stone beaches blocked the passage of ships, so the boatmen had to push them barefoot. The local government extorts taxes from the boat people for pleasure, but ignores the interests of the people. Therefore, Bai Juyi paid his own money to dig Longmen stone beach, which solved the difficulties of boatmen.
The following year, Bai Juyi organized the "seven old Club" with six friends who were over 70 years old in Luoyang, and then added two more, which was called "Nine Old Pictures" in history. They pay tribute to wine and talk about it, which has become a much-told story among poets. Later generations also drew Nine Old Pictures of Xiangshan based on this theme. Another year passed (846), and Bai Juyi fell ill and died soon at the age of 75.
Bai Juyi experienced eight emperors in his life, Tang Daizong, Dezong, Shunzong, Xianzong, Mu Zong, Jing Zong, Wenzong and Wuzong. At the age of 75, he lived a long life at that time. He is not only a poet, but also an ambitious, diligent and loving official. Unfortunately, at the wrong time, Bai Juyi's talent was not fully displayed and his political ideal was not realized. However, he never gave up his principles and positions, did not collude with powerful people, and worked for the interests of the people whenever he had the opportunity (as a local official), thus winning the praise of the people. His poetry works are close to life and reflect social reality, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations. He himself has become a great realistic poet in the history of China.