"When an article is written, songs and poems are written in things" comes from Bai Juyi's "Nine Books with Yuan Zhen" written to his good friend Yuan Zhen. In the late Tang Dynasty, Zhang Wei wrote the Poet's Subject-Object Diagram, which divided the poets in the middle and late Tang Dynasty into six categories according to the content and style of their works. Among them, Bai Juyi was ranked as the first poet of the first category and was known as a "great educator". His judgment on Bai Juyi is undoubtedly very reasonable.
One of the important reasons why Bai got such a title is that he adhered to the creative principle of "writing according to the time and making songs according to the events". This principle responded to the challenges encountered in literary and artistic creation at that time. Because it pays attention to the basic functions of literature and art and meets the practical needs of social development, it has been widely praised by later generations and has far-reaching significance in the history of literature and culture.
Bai Juyi's Theoretical Viewpoint
Bai Juyi's poetic theory is embodied in his Nine Books with Yuan Dynasty. In addition to "articles are written in time, songs and poems are written in things", he also put forward some related viewpoints in combination with his own creative practice. For example, he believes that poetry should "learn six meanings", "help people's diseases and make up for the lack of time", and poets should "aim at economic benefits and be independent.