Poems such as Song of Eternal Sorrow and Pipa Journey are representative works of Bai narrative poems, while Farewell to Ancient Grass is a kind of "rambling grass that comes and goes with the seasons" written by the poet 16 years old. Wildfire can't burn it out, but the spring breeze can revive it. Weeds and wild flowers are all over the ancient road, and the end of the grass in the sun is your journey. Oh, my friend's prince, you left again, and I heard them sigh behind you. " This poem can be said that the poet wrote a hymn for ordinary weeds. The first four sentences praise the vigorous vitality of weeds, and the last four sentences touch the scene and experience the feeling that time flies and bid farewell to friends. "Wildfire didn't completely burn them, but they grew tall again in the spring breeze." These two poems with "toughness" and "chewing the head" became the eternal swan song of China people. When Bai was sixteen years old, he came to Chang 'an from Yingju in the south of the Yangtze River and met the famous poet Gu Kuang with his poems. Seeing the name Bai Juyi, Gu said humorously, "Chang 'an is expensive, but it is not easy to live in a big place." (Chang 'an is expensive, I'm afraid it's not easy to live in vain.) But when he opened his own poem and read the words "wildfire never quite consumes them, the spring breeze blows high" in this poem, he couldn't help but admire: "Talented, hard to live!" Bai Juyi wrote such a poem easily. Even the old-timers in the poetry world are impressed, which shows that this poem is of high artistic attainments and is also a masterpiece of Bai Juyi's predecessors.
In fact, Bai's poetic theory inherits the diligent study of predecessors, and Yuan Jiu Shu is his poetic theory that carries forward the fine tradition of realistic poetry. In the article, he described his diligent and studious experience since childhood. "When the servant was born in June and July, the wet nurse held it under the book screen and pointed out the words" know "and" nothing "to the servant. The servant could not speak and his heart was silent. People who asked this word later, although they tried it a hundred times, all pointed out that it was not bad. Then knowing the fate of the servant is already in the text. At the age of five or six, he learned to write poetry. When I was nine years old, I knew rhyme. Fifteen or sixteen years old, I didn't know there were scholars, so I studied hard. I'm twenty. I have classes during the day, read books at night, and have poems in the middle. I don't want to sleep. So that the tongue is sore and the elbow is sore. It is strong and its skin is not full, but its teeth turn white prematurely; Those who have beads in their eyes like flies have moved thousands of times, all of which are caused by hard work and self-pity. There are many reasons why the family is poor. The 27th Party belongs to the village. After that, although he specialized in the senior high school entrance examination, he did not waste poetry. By the time I was awarded the school librarian, I had earned three or four hundred songs. ""At the beginning of Jinshi, China and North Korea had no relatives, and dignitaries had no old faces; Zhang's strategy is to make profits, not in the field of war. In ten years, he was promoted to the first place in his class three times, and his reputation fell into the ears of many people. He has a clear mark, made a good man and entered the service crown. " For the third time, senior four Bai entered the first subject, which means that he has been studying hard since he entered the first subject at the age of 28. At the age of 30, I took the official examination and won by books. At the age of thirty-four, I took the emperor's personal examination and knew all about the physical examination. The purpose of the examination was to select special talents. He was admitted to the fourth place and could be close to the emperor.
The poetic style of Bai's predecessors is simple and natural, fresh and indifferent. Precious Peony is the representative of this kind of poem. "There are only two branches of red peony left in front of the melancholy stage. The wind of the Ming Dynasty will blow out, and the night is precious to watch the fire. " The poet looked sadly at the blooming peony flowers in the courtyard of the steps, and was surprised to find that there were still two peony flowers that were about to wither, still leaning against the last charm. The poet studied late into the night and suddenly remembered the peony flowers that were about to bloom in the yard. He couldn't help walking into the yard with a lamp, admiring their beauty again, fearing that the wind would blow their petals off tomorrow morning. As soon as this sincere poem of Bai's predecessor was first published, it caused later generations to imitate it. "After waking up in the middle of the night, guests will light red candles to enjoy the residual flowers." "I'm afraid the flowers will fall asleep at night, so I light candles and put on red makeup." Equivalent sentence.
There is also a short poem called Snow at Night, which is very wonderful. Through the poet's conscious perception, the spectator knows that there is a heavy snow in the world. "I have been stunned, the pillows are cold, and then look out the window. I know it snows heavily at night, and I hear the sound of bamboo folding. " The poet was awakened by freezing in his sleep and was surprised to find himself thin and cold. I wonder what makes the window bright. He realized that the strong reflection of the snow in the yard brought light to the dark night, and the snow was getting thicker and thicker. In the quiet night, the bamboo branches in the yard creak from time to time. Appreciate and taste this elegant and colorless poem carefully, imagine the white and tasteless fluttering snowflakes, and you will find that this poem is not only dignified and simple, fresh and elegant, but also novel and unique, with good intentions. Who can see snow in the dark night? It's too cold for me to appreciate. Bai, who is willing to innovate, describes a scene of heavy snow from three levels: feeling (cold), vision (light) and hearing (smell).
The poems of Bai Juyi's predecessors are authentic, easy to understand and easy to sing, which makes the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty reach the extreme. Because he yearned for officialdom life all his life, he overemphasized that poetry creation was subordinate to the needs of real politics, which would inevitably constrain his poetry artistic creation and style diversification.