Bai Juyi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Names | |
|---|---|
| Chinese: | 白居易 |
| Pinyin: | Bó Jūyì or Bái Jūyì |
| Wade-Giles: | Po Chü-i or Pai Chü-i |
| Zì 字: | Lètiān 樂天 |
| Hào 號: | Xiāngshān Jūshì 香山居士 Zuìyín Xiānshēng 醉吟先生 |
| Shì 謚: | Wén 文 (hence referred to as Bái Wéngōng 白文公) |
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Bai.
Bai Juyi (Chinese: 白居易; pinyin: Bái Jūyì; Wade-Giles: Po Chü-i, 772–846) was a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. His poems are not cheerful, they were themed around his responsibilities as a governor of several small provinces to sympathise with his people. He is renowned in Japan as well, where he is called Haku Rakuten.
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[edit] Life
Bai Juyi was born in Xinzheng to a poor but scholarly family. At the age of ten he was sent away from his family because of war that broke out in the north of China, he was sent to relatives who lived in the area known as JiangNan, more specifically to XuZhou. He passed the jinshi degree in 800. His official career was initially successful: he was a Member of the Hanlin Academy and Reminder of the Left from 807 until 815, when he was exiled and demoted for stepping above his political duties and remonstrated the Emperor Xian Zong, emploring him to quickly catch the murderer of two high officials at that time. His career resumed when he was made Prefect of Hangzhou (822-824) and then Suzhou (825-827).
[edit] Works
He wrote over 2,800 poems, which he had copied and distributed to ensure their survival.
He is most notable for the accessibility of his work. It is said that he rewrote any part of a poem which one of his servants was unable to understand. He tried to use simple language and direct themes. Two of his most famous works are the long narrative poems Song of Eternal Sorrow, which tells the story of Yang Guifei, and Song of the Pipa Player. Like Du Fu, he had a strong sense of social responsibility, and is well-known for his satirical poems, such as The Elderly Charcoal Seller. Bai Juyi's accessibility made him extremely popular in his lifetime in both China and Japan, and he continues to be so today.
[edit] References
- Arthur Waley, The Life and Times of Po Chü-I, 772-846 A.D (New York,: Macmillan, 1949). 238p.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bai Juyi |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bai Juyi |
- Bai Juyi: Poems English translations of Bai Juyi's poetry.
- Translations of Chinese poems
- Chinese poems in translation
- Six Bai Juyi's poems included in 300 Selected Tang Poems, translated by Witter Bynner
- Nienhauser, William H (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press 1986. ISBN 0-253-32983-3
- Article on the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower that was based on a poem by Bai Juyi
