The Study On Bai Juyi’s Produce-in-Luoyang Poems

Luoyang has always been famous for breeding laureates. Bai Juyi as one of them in MidTang dynasty had especially close connection with the region. With recent ancestors rooted inHeluo area, not only did he gain warmth in his home in Luoyang during his green years whichwas spent in arduous trips, but also secured long-term residence in Luoyang for the last18years of his life until he was buried at Pipa Peak in Longmen. It could be seen that Bai Juyiheld special affections towards Luoyang, a place he viewed as his native land.Hustle and bustle left Luoyang after An Lushan Rebellion, transforming the city to aplace suitable for sightseeing and relaxation, where Bai Juyi, during the retirement in his lastyears, enjoyed the affectionate terms with the mountains and rivers by directing his stepswithin the area30or so kilometers in and out the city. Edified by graceful natural beauties andprofound cultural reserves in the region for a long time, Bai Juyi absorbed the essence of thecultural elements of the region in his literary creations, when he composed more poems andessays there than in any other places.Bai Juyi’s poems produced in Luoyang was the demonstration of his hermit life in theregion, in which his not yet dissipated Confucius thoughts and feeling could still be found.Attention was stilled paid discreetly to politics and the society, and he was even moreconcerned with peasants’ life. Sorrow, fear and misery haunted him even in his relaxed days,whereas his pursuit of leisure and poeticized life style after his conversion to Buddhism andtranscendence of dullness tended to dominate his writings. He made friends, toured around,held banquets and parties,“entertained his heart by songs, poetry, music and wine whilecompanied by nature and romance”.Bai Juyi’s produced-in-Luoyang poems were the record of his life in the region and themanifestation of his acceptance of the “routine” awareness, which was in compliance with his“earthly” principle in the composition of poetry. However, based on embracing the notion ofroutine, the poeticized life expressed in these poems especially possessed elegant tastes.Regional features were revealed in these poems filled with rich Luoyang images, where theunique lifestyle in the region also unfolded in the best manner.We could be acquainted with various aspects of Bai Juyi’s late life in hisproduce-in-Luoyang poems, where an animated stature of a poet was erected. This image, asthe embodiment of the certain mental and spiritual status taken on by literary men in the context of Mid and Late Tang dynasty, is highly typical and shed special influence on variouspoets active at the time. Moreover, it was because of Bai Juyi’s responsive poetry compositionwith the group of poets of leisure that gathered around him that Luoyang was endowed withmore distinctive humanistic atmosphere and regional style.