Bai Juyi’s Poems On Familial Affection

From of old, China has been a nation that attaches great importance to ethic andfamilial affection, which has always been the subject for attention and chanting. It isof long standing and has presented a splendid sight in the development of poems onfamilial affection. As a very famous and influential poet, Bai Juyi’s poems spread inmultiple subjects and extensive contents. Among over two thousand of his poems,there are over a hundred on familial affection that, though not a large portion, play asignificant role in comprehensively studying the poet and these poems.This thesis takes Bai Juyi’s poems on familial affection as study subject, andwith his kin as dividing units, has made elaborate analysis emphasizing on thecontents and artistic features of these poems. The thesis consists of the exordium,body and conclusion. The body is divided into four chapters. The first one is mainlyon his wife, son and nephew, elaborating on the couple’s love in the mutualsupporting and caring life of Bai Juyi and his wife Yang, and the keen tenderaffection the poet on his first daughter Jinluanzi, second daughter Ahluo, son Ahcui,nephew Gui’er, granddaughter Yinzhu and grandson Yutong, and the poet’ssorrowful pain on the death of his son. The second chapter takes the poet’s brothersand sisters as study subject, chiefly on the brotherly affection of the poet and hisyounger brother Bai Xingjian and the poet’s caring, missing and mourning for hisbrothers and sisters. Chapter Three takes the Yang brothers, namely the poet’s wife’sbrothers, and his in-law Huangpu Langzhi as study subject, elaborating on the caringand missing in life and mutual encouragement on official career and perception onlife between the poet and them. Chapter Four mainly analyzes the artistic features ofthe poet’s familial affection poems. His poems are known for their plainness andeasy understanding, which however are just the artistic features of his poems on thewhole. Analyzed from his familial affection poems, there are the artistic featuressuch as reasoning preferred in feelings expression, the application of “writing asbeing missed by others for missing others”, and the characteristics of plain languageand good using of common literary quotations.