Bai Juyi (772-846), whose courtesy name was Letian, also known as Xiangshan Jushi, and Mr. Zuiyin, was from Taiyuan. He was a great realist poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three major poets in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen jointly advocated the New Yuefu Movement, known as "Yuan Bai" in the world, and "Liu Bai" together with Liu Yuxi.
In the first month of the seventh year of Dali (772), Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi was born in Dongguozhai, Xinzheng, Zhengzhou (now Dongguosi Village, Xinzheng City). Zhenyuan Jinshi, awarded the title of Secretary Provincial Secretary. During the Yuanhe period, he served as Dr. Zuo Yiyi and Zuo Zanshan.
Later, he offended the powerful and was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima because of his request to severely arrest the murderer who assassinated Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng. In the early years of Changqing, he was appointed as the governor of Hangzhou, and in the early years of Baoli, he was appointed as the governor of Suzhou. Later, he became the minister of the Ministry of punishment.
On August 14th (September 8th), the sixth year of Wuzong Huichang (846), Bai Juyi died in Luoyang at the age of 75. He was given the posthumous title "Wen" by Shangshu Youpushe and was buried in Luoyang. Luoyang Xiangshan.
Bai Juyi's poetry has a wide range of themes, diverse forms, and simple and popular language. He is known as the "Poetry Demon" and the "Poetry King". He became a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a doctor of Zuo Zanshan. There is "Bai's Changqing Collection" handed down from generation to generation, and his representative poems include "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", "Charcoal Seller", "Pipa Play" and so on.
Extended information:
Bai Juyi was a great poet with great influence in the mid-Tang Dynasty. His poetic ideas and poetry creation were characterized by his outstanding emphasis and full efforts on popularity and realism. Expression occupies an important position in the history of Chinese poetry.
Bai Juyi not only left nearly three thousand poems, but also put forward a whole set of poetry theories. He compared poetry to a fruit tree and put forward the viewpoint of "root feelings, seedling words, beautiful sounds, and actual meaning". He believed that "emotion" is the fundamental condition of poetry. "What touches people's hearts comes first from emotion." And the generation of emotion is Feelings about things are related to current affairs.
Therefore, poetry creation cannot be divorced from reality and must be based on various events in real life and reflect the social and political conditions of an era. He inherited the tradition of poetry and poetry since the Book of Songs, and attached great importance to the realistic content and social role of poetry.
Emphasize the function of poetry in exposing and criticizing political shortcomings. He put forward a series of principles on the expression method of poetry. In "Yu Yuan Jiu Shu", he put forward the famous realist creative principle of "articles are written according to the time, and songs and poems are written according to the situation".
His poetry theory is of progressive significance in urging poets to face reality and care about the people's livelihood. It also has a critical effect on the poetic style that has gradually emphasized form since the Dali (766-779). However, over-emphasis on the subordination of poetry creation to the needs of real politics will inevitably constrain the artistic creation and style diversity of poetry.
Baidu Encyclopedia——Bai Juyi