In 827, Bai Juyi went to Chang'an to serve as a secretary and supervisor, with a purple gold fish bag, and changed into a purple court dress (the color used by officials above the third grade).

In 828, he was transferred to the Criminal Department as a waiter, and was named a male of Jinyang County. In the spring of 829, due to illness, he was assigned to the prince's guest branch and returned to Luoyang. In December 830, he was appointed Yin of Henan. In July 831, he died.

In 832, he wrote an epitaph for Yuan Zhen, and the Yuan family gave Bai Juyi six or seven hundred thousand yuan to run the pen, and Bai Juyi will give all the money to Luoyang Xiangshan Temple. In 833, he was exempted from Henan Yin due to illness and was reappointed as the prince's guest branch.

In 835, he was appointed as the assassin of Tongzhou, resigned from his post, and was later reappointed as the prince and young master of the Eastern Capital, and was named the Marquis of Fengyi County, but remained in Luoyang.

In October 839, he became ill with a wind. In 841, the young master of the crown prince was dismissed and stopped. In 842, he received half a salary from the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. He died in August 846 and was given the right servant of Shangshu. Buried in Longmen (now the White Garden of Longmen Grottoes).

In his later years, Bai Juyi spent most of his time in Luoyang, singing and harmonizing with Liu Yuxi, and often traveled in the Longmen area. He wrote "Chi Shang Chapter" and "The Biography of Mr. Drunken Yin".

In 845, at the age of 74, Bai Juyi held the "Seven Elders Meeting" in the first place in the road, with Hu Gao, Ji Jiao, Zheng Ju, Liu Zhen, Lu Zhen, Zhang Hun and Bai Juyi as the participants.

Bai Juyi believed in Buddhism in his later years, and was called a monk in Xiangshan, and was a disciple of the monk.

In his later years, Bai Juyi's life mostly reflected his life philosophy of "being poor and being alone" with a "leisurely" life. In 844, 73-year-old Bai Juyi paid for the excavation of the rocky beach in the Longmen area that hindered boat travel. After the completion of the event, he composed a poem "Two Poems of the Eight Festivals of the Dragon Gate and the Preface" to commemorate the event, which still reflects his outlook on life of "reaching the point and helping the world".

Works: "Twenty-three Prefaces to the Poems of Hewei", "Chishang Chapter and Preface", "The Disposal of the Late Tang Dynasty Wuchang Military Festival, etc., Doctor Zhengyi Inspects the School of Household Books, Ezhou Thorn History and Imperial History, and the Doctor Gives the Purple Gold Fish Bag to the Right Servant of the Book of the Inscription and Preface of the Henan Yuan Cemetery", "The Story of Xiuxiangshan Temple", "The Biography of Mr. Drunken Yin", "Can't Forget the Love", "Gift Dreams", "Buddha Light Monk Zhenzan", "Two Poems and Preface to the Eight Festivals of Stone Beach Poems in the Open Dragon Gate", "Postscript to Bai's Collection".

Bai Juyi, known as Yuan Zhen, is an important leader of realist literature after Du Fu. He edited his own work, called "Bai's Changqing Collection" (or "Bai's Anthology"), a total of 75 volumes, of which 71 volumes are extant.

Bai Juyi is very devoted to literary creation, and when he was a teenager, he devoted himself seriously to learning, and even affected his health and showed symptoms of aging early. He once compared himself with poetry immortals and poetry demons. Describe your dedication to poetry.

Unlike most other poets. When Bai Juyi was alive, his works were already well-known, widely circulated in all places and all walks of life, and he was the most widely circulated among the poets of the Tang Dynasty during his lifetime.

His works have also spread to Japan, Silla and other places. In early Japan, the "Bai's Anthology" was the most important basis for the sinicization of Japanese literature.

Bai Juyi believes that literature is a tool to reflect his philosophy of life (Tao). And according to their own current situation. It can be divided into two categories: "concomitant beneficial" and "benevolent".

Bai Juyi once divided his poems into four categories: irony, leisure, sentimentality, and miscellaneous. He himself attaches great importance to two types of poetry: one is satirical poetry as a tool for "contemporary". One of them is a leisurely poem that reflects his "solitary kindness". He also put forward the idea that "articles are written for the time, and songs and poems are written for things".

Hu Shi summed up Bai Juyi's basic proposition: "It can be said that literature is written for life! Literature is a powerful tool for relieving society and improving life; at the highest level, it is necessary to be able to 'make up for current affairs'. At the very least, they must be able to "divulge favors", and those who can't do so are "just mocking the snow and making flowers and plants." 」

Bai Juyi's poetic concept is consistent with that of Yuan Zhen. The ancient poems of Chen Ziang and Li Bai, as well as the realistic works of Du Fu, may have had a great influence on the poetic concepts of Yuan and Bai.

Regarding Bai Juyi's literary proposition, Liu Dajie believes that Bai Juyi "made a bold criticism and correct evaluation. Hu Shi affirmed Bai Juyi's intention to use poetry to create public opinion and improve current politics, but also believed that Bai Juyi's poetry theory was too narrow.

Bai Juyi's evaluation of the poetry of his predecessors also appeared in conflict because of his literary theory. For example, in the "Nine Books of the Yuan Dynasty", it is believed that the Jin and Song dynasties were the era of "six righteousness and subtlety", and there is a criticism that "the high antiquity of Yuanming is biased towards the pastoral", but Bai Juyi not only has the poems of "Sixteen Poems of the Latent Body of Tao", but also clearly expressed his admiration for Tao Yuanming's personality.

Bai Juyi's poems are extant in nearly 3,000 poems.

Bai Juyi attaches the most importance to allegorical poetry, and his creative intention is to use poetry to make up for the shortcomings of current politics. His representative works include "Qin Zhongyin", "Xin Yuefu", etc., the practice of poetry theory, put forward a relatively systematic regulation of many problems in the society at that time, and is a representative work of Chinese classical poetry realism:

Qin Zhongyin, buying flowers, the imperial city is in the twilight of spring, and the noisy cars and horses. When sharing peonies, buy flowers with each other. There is no permanent price, and the reward looks directly at the number of flowers: a hundred red flowers, and five bundles of vegetarians. On the curtain shelter, next to the fence fence protection. The water is sprinkled with mud and sealed, and the color is the same. Every family is accustomed to customs, and everyone is confused. There is a field of housekeepers, and occasionally come to buy flowers. Bow your head and sigh alone, no one can say this: a cluster of dark flowers, ten households are endowed!

"Qin Zhongyin" is a poem written by Bai Juyi in Chang'an during the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe periods, seeing all kinds of unjust social phenomena at that time, and feeling it.

These poems, one topic and one discussion, not only reflect the social issues of the time, but also present Bai Juyi's views on these issues.

Bai Juyi wrote satirical poems, and was greatly encouraged by Du Fu, and "Qin Zhongyin" can reflect the influence of Du Juyi's poem "Zhumen wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road" on Bai Juyi.

Taking the tenth poem "Buying Flowers" as an example, this poem specifically depicts the gap between the rich and the poor in society at that time. The last six lines of the last sentence use contrasting techniques to satirize the extravagance and luxury of flower buyers, and at the same time show the poet's sympathy for the poor.

Selling charcoal, Kugong City, selling charcoal, cutting and burning charcoal in the south mountain, full of dust and smoke and fire, two gray and ten fingers black. What is the camp for the money from selling charcoal, the clothes on the body are eaten in the mouth, the poor clothes are single, and the price of charcoal is worried and the weather is cold.

A foot of snow outside the city at night, Xiao drove a charcoal car to roll the ice ruts, the cattle were sleepy and the people were hungry, and the mud outside the south gate of the city rested. Who is the two horsemen, the yellow-clothed messenger in white shirts, holding the paperwork in his hand, and leading the ox to the north. A car of charcoal weighs more than 1,000 catties, and the palace envoy will not regret it, and the half-boiled red yarn is a zhang, and the cow's head is filled with charcoal.

Bai Juyi hopes to use poetry to make up for political deficiencies, and "New Yuefu" is written "for the king, for the ministers, for the people, for things, and for things", which can be said to be the most concrete presentation of Bai Juyi's poetry theory.

Written in the fourth year of Yuan He, the writing criteria of Xin Yuefu are: breaking the title at the beginning and highlighting the gist of the whole poem at the end, using simple words to make people easy to understand, using direct and sharp language to make people vigilant, the narrative is reliable and credible, and the style is smooth enough to be sung in songs.

In order to achieve the above effect, Bai Juyi may have used many popular literary works of the time when creating "Xin Yuefu". However, the poems of "Xin Yuefu" also have the shortcomings of starting from the concept, lacking in imagery and appeal.

Hu Shi also believes that "Xin Yuefu" marks that Bai Juyi has surpassed Du Fu's influence and is unique, and that Bai Juyi's "understanding and genius are fused into one", but Hu Shi also believes that the good and bad of the new Yuefu are mixed, and among the 50 articles, the excellent works include "Shangyang White-haired Man", "Xinfeng Folding Arm", "Daozhou Min", "Tie Rong Ren", "Xiliang Lingling", "Du Lingsuo", "Gang Xuan", "Charcoal Seller", "Salt Merchant's Woman" and so on.

The first six sentences vividly portray the protagonist's age, occupation, and charcoal-burning labor; the second two sentences describe the unique ambivalence of the old man's dilemma in life; the four sentences of "Pianpian" vividly portray the brutality of the eunuchs with the words "Pianpian", "put", "weigh", "迴", "叱", and "lead" , even if it is the price of more than 1,000 catties of charcoal.

Leisure poems are poems written by Bai Juyi when he was alone in his spare time or when he was idle due to illness, in order to cultivate his temperament and reflect his philosophy of "contentment and peace". This kind of poetry is quite valued by Bai Juyi himself, but it is less important than the world. Take "Self-chanting and Clumsy Because of Pregnancy" as an example:

I can't write a poem when I can't write a pen and inkstone. The poems are tasteless and are often ridiculed by everyone. The upper part is strange and the rhyme is lower, and the lower is clumsy words. Always chanting to yourself, chanting and thinking. Suzhou and Pengze, not at the same time as me. In addition, who loves again, only Yuan Weizhi. He went to Gangneung Mansion and served as a judge for three years. is two thousand miles away, and the poem is far away.

The poem reflects the situation in which Bai Juyi wrote the poem, his comments on his own works, the ancient poets he admired (Tao Qian, Wei Yingwu), and his friendship with Yuan Zhen. (To be continued......)