Bai Juyi's idea has a far-reaching influence in the history of literary thought, and this work, which embodies his literary views, has a lofty position in ancient literary theory.
When it comes to Nine Books of Yu Yuan, people always pay the most attention to its achievements and great significance in literary theory.
On the relationship between literature and reality, Bai Juyi put forward a clear conclusion that "articles should be written in time, and songs and poems should be written for things".
Bai Juyi focuses on the relationship between literature and reality, and thinks that literature not only negatively reflects social content, but also should be combined with current politics.
From his practical experience, he realized that literature should actively intervene in life if he wants to "help people's illness and make up for the lack of time".
So he "asks more about current affairs" and cares about current events or real life.
in reading, explore the truth of governing the country and saving the people. Based on this understanding, he put forward a clear conclusion that "articles should be written in time, and songs and poems should be written for things".
express your feelings through poetry.
Paying attention to the objective reality and expressing one's own evaluation of life, this simple realistic creation theory, embodies Bai Juyi's valuable spirit of worrying about the country and the people and pleading for the people.
On the role of poetry, Bai Juyi put forward that poetry should give full play to its view of "making up for current affairs and releasing human feelings" on the premise of "serving the time" and "serving the things".
Bai Juyi's "doing things" and "doing things for the time" are also for the monarch, the minister, the time and the things. His motivation and starting point are "helping the world".
He repeatedly stressed that poetry should play the role of "making up for the current politics and releasing human feelings", and asked the poet to truly expose and criticize the social abuses at that time.
in Nine Books of Yu Yuan, the cruel reality that from the decline of Qin Xing in Zhou Dynasty to the two hundred years of Tang Xing, poetry and Taoism began with six meanings and the outline remained, and finally the six meanings were exhausted.
Bai Juyi was deeply saddened by this, and told himself that "the servant often suffered from the collapse of poetry, suddenly became angry, or abandoned food and dropped out of bed, and tried to help him".
Bai Juyi emphasizes the fine tradition that elegance reflects reality, and his poems focus on the beauty, allegory and elegance of the content. The author created allegorical poems not only to express the theme of beauty but also to realize his "ambition to help others" in the temple.
As the Nine Books of Yu Yuan said, "Listen with wide ears, and be worried with diligence; The second time is to reward the reward, and to blame; I will restore my life's ambition. "
Bai Juyi was in an official position, and he spoke positively to the monarch with a high sense of responsibility, that is, "if there is any defect, it must be regulated, and if there is any violation, it must be remonstrated, and the gains and losses of the court will be observed, and all the benefits and diseases in the world will be said".
I hope to achieve the social effect of political integrity and harmony through my position as an admonition officer, but it also shows the limitations of his class and times.
On the relationship between the content and form of a work, it is emphasized that the form and content must be unified with each other.
He gave a definition to poetry: "Poet, root feeling, Miao words, Hua Sheng, real meaning."
This sentence vividly illustrates the relationship between the content and form of poetry. In fact, comparing the emotional and ideological content of the work to "root" and "reality" and comparing the artistic form of the work to "seedling" and "flower" reflects Bai Juyi's correct understanding of the content and form of the work.
in his view, "emotion" is the foundation and pillar of poetry, while "righteousness" is the fruit and the profound connotation of poetry. Emotion alone is not enough. Poetry pays attention to proper language, proper rhyme and profound meaning.
"speech" and "sound" belong to the category of poetic forms. Speech is like a seedling, and sound is like a flower.
For readers, only with sound and emotion can they reflect, and both content and form are indispensable.
He thinks that the works of saints are touching because of the unity of content and form.
The sage expressed the idea of "six meanings" in language and matched it with temperament.
The above is only a preliminary discussion on Bai Juyi's literary theory. Although Bai Juyi is famous as a writer in the history of literature, his theory cannot be ignored.
It is precisely because of the continuous efforts of many literary creation practices and experience summoners like Bai Juyi that the brilliance of Chinese literary theory has been cast.