Personal Library -- Poems of Bai Juyi

Author: Tang Bai Juyi Deng Kuiying (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Bai Juyi's poetry is enchanting, simple, and fluid, with numerous admirers both at home and abroad. This book selects over 200 representative poems of Bai, arranged in chronological order of creation. The prefaces are concise, and the annotations are detailed, making it a highly academic reading of Bai's poetry.
Bai Juyi (772–846), styled Le Tian, styled Xiangshan Jushi, was from Xiagui (now Weinan, Shaanxi). He passed the imperial examination in the 16th year of the Zhenyuan era and held various positions, including Left Supplementary Officer, Attendant at the Eastern Palace, Marquis of Jiangzhou, Governor of Hangzhou, Governor of Suzhou, and Grand Tutor.
Bai Juyi was a great realist poet. His poetry covers a wide range of themes and diverse forms, with language that is simple and accessible. His works such as "Qinzhong Yin" and "Xin Yuefu" dared to criticize the policies of the ruling class, reflecting the suffering of the people, and profoundly exposing social contradictions. He was also a key advocate of the New Yuefu Movement in the mid-Tang Dynasty.
Bai Juyi's narrative poems, such as "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and "The Story of the Pipa," are vivid and emotionally moving, with a unique artistic style that has had a far-reaching influence. In the theory of poetic creation, he proposed the principles that "literature should be written for the times" and "poetry should be composed for events."
Over 3,000 of his poems are preserved in the collection "Bai Shi Changqing Ji."