Bai Juyi once divided his poems into four categories: satirical poems, leisurely poems, sentimental poems and miscellaneous poems.
Among them, satirical poems are poems he used to satirize state affairs and pin his ideals on. These poems often express their feelings directly, reflect social reality and people's sufferings through vivid images and strong feelings, and express their concern and love for society and people.
Leisure poetry is a poem that he uses to express his personal feelings and express his personal embrace. These poems mostly describe natural scenery and scenery, and through delicate description and expression, they show his love and yearning for nature and life.
Sentimental poetry is a poem that he uses to express his personal feelings and express his thoughts and feelings about life. These poems often have some sad feelings, reflecting his deep thinking and feelings about life and society.
Miscellaneous poems are poems that he used to express his various complex emotions and moods. These poems, including sentence patterns of different lengths, rhymes of different heights, odd rhythms, various forms and changeable styles, show the richness and diversity of his inner world.
Generally speaking, Bai Juyi's poetry classification is his self-evaluation and classification method of his own poetry creation, which embodies his poetry creation concept and profound understanding of life. These poems were not only praised by people at that time, but also have high artistic and ideological value today.