The Marvels Out Of Plainness

Bai Juyi was an eminent realistic poet in Tang Dynasty, who, in his poems, got out the usual stereotype of personal pathos and turned instead to the vast plain of social life, the products of which are hosts of narrative poems. However, due to the taste of historical era and its later influence until now, people are less concerned with or barely appreciate his narrative poems. This paper yet makes a thorough review on Bai Juyi' s narrative poems: to investigate the poems' social, cultural and psychological origins; to analyze the aesthetic values under certain historical background and conclude that Bai' s narrative poems show distinct individuality both in content and artistry, which illustrates the key feature of "The Marvels out of Plainness"; In addition, a historical perspective concerning narrative poems is called for to evaluate the status of Bai's narrative poems in Mid-Tang Dynasty and the narrative history.