Not long after Bai Juyi was born, war broke out in Henan. Li Zhengji in Pu Town separatized more than ten states in Henan, and the war was so intense that the people were in dire straits. Bai Juyi lived in the middle Tang Dynasty, when the country's national power was declining, wars were constant, and politics was corrupt.
Bai Juyi is an advocate of the New Yuefu Movement, advocating that "articles are combined to suit the time, and songs and poems are written to suit the event." Together with Yuan Zhen, they are collectively known as "Yuan Bai". He wrote many poems that lamented the current times and reflected the people's sufferings, which had a great influence on later generations. He was a very important poet in the history of Chinese literature. He wrote many poems in his life, among which allegorical poems are the most famous. His language is easy to understand and he is known as "the old woman can understand".
Bai Juyi once divided his poems into four categories: allegory, leisure, sentimentality and miscellany. Generally speaking, the first three categories are archaic and the latter are modern. The first three categories are roughly distinguished by content, but they overlap. Among the four categories of poems, Bai himself paid more attention to the first two categories, believing that allegorical poems reflected the "ambition of benefiting others" and leisure poems showed the "meaning of being independent and good"; both were direct manifestations of his life goals. Sentimental poems and miscellaneous rhymed poems "may be attracted by a moment or an object, and they may be inspired by a smile or a chant, and they can form a chapter spontaneously, which is not the norm in life" ("Jiu Shu" of Yuan Dynasty). Allegorical poetry is the essence of white poetry. His poems are easy to understand, smooth and natural, and his representative works include fifty poems of "New Yuefu" and ten poems of "Qin Zhongyin". They extensively reflect the major issues in all aspects of social life in the Middle Tang Dynasty, focusing on the darkness of reality and the suffering of the people. These poems are fiercely worded and without scruples, breaking through the "gentle and honest" poetic tradition, and are very prominent among ancient poems criticizing current affairs. Allegorical poems are mostly direct in their form. The narrative is complete, the plot is vivid, and the characters are detailed and vivid. Another part of the allegorical poems use the technique of allegory to express political sentiments through natural objects. Both types of works have profound and broad generalizations, concentrated themes, vivid images, and clear and clear language. Part of "New Yuefu" also uses the "three, three, seven" sentence pattern, which has traces of popular folk literature and art. Leisure poems mostly express the tranquility of seclusion in the countryside. He was enthusiastic about helping the world in his early years, emphasized the political function of poetry, and strived to be popular. His poetic style is simple and easy to understand. It can be regarded as simple and recent. Therefore, it has been widely circulated and has had a profound impact on future generations. . He wrote about 60 poems in "New Yuefu" and "Qin Zhongyin", which truly achieved the goal of "singing only can make people sick" and "every sentence must follow the rules". He is as famous as Du Fu's "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells" The history of poetry. Famous poems such as the long narrative poem "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and "Pipa Song" represent his highest artistic achievements.
Many poems also promote the ideas of contentment and peace, happiness and peace of mind. But there are also some poems that express dissatisfaction with reality from the side, indicating that his pursuit of leisure is only a helpless relief. Among the sentimental poems, the most famous are the long narrative poems "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and "Pipa Song". They are also popular chapters with vivid images, coherent plots and beautiful language. Bai also wrote many poems about gifts to relatives and friends, which are sincere, simple and touching. However, in this type of poems, there are many sentiments about old age and illness, mourning for the past, and Buddhist thoughts about escaping from the hustle and bustle of the world. Among the white poems, there are the most miscellaneous rhymed poems, and they are famous for some intriguing lyrical landscape poems, which are full of life with only a few strokes in white lines. There are also some long poems that lay out the true story and parallelize the rhythm, as well as short poems about wine and romance, which are also imitated by people of the time.