Poetry Culture in the Mid-Tang Dynasty

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During this period poetry continued to flourish and the poetic output was larger than ever before.The later poets were by no means imitators of the earlier masters.Bai Juyi （see Figure 66）was the most prominent poet at this time who is famous for his long poet describing the love story of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei .

Two years after Du Fu died，another great poet was born.

Bai Juyi（772-846 AD），the son of a petty official，was born in Xinzheng ，Henan Province.Someone says inTaiyuan ，Shanxi Province.He spent his youth wandering about to escape wars，and was often cold and hungry.

He was successful in civil service examinations，became an official，and worked in the central government for about 15 years.Since he was disliked by those in power，he was sent out work in Jiangzhou ，now Jiujiang，Hangzhou and Suzhou .Later he moved to Luoyang，where he died at the age of 75.

Bai Juyi wrote more poems than any other Tang poetnearly 3，000.Many of them deal with important social and political problems，and show signs of Du Fu’s influence.He also wrote many lyrics expressing his personal feelings.His two long narrative poems The Everlasting Sorrow and The Song ofa Pipa Player are among the best known.Many of his poems have deep meaning，and they are written in simple and plain language，which ordinary readers can understand.

In The Song of a Pipa Player there are not only the lines describing the beautiful music produced by the Pipa but the fate of its player which arouses strong sympathy and emotions of the listeners.The poem is famous and enjoyable and very long.

Bai Juyi recounts the tragic love story of Tang Xuanzong ，the emperor，and Yang Guifei ，his concubine in his long poem The Song ofEverlasting Sorrow.

Yang Guifei’s story and the tragic end have been a favorite theme for Chinese poets and writers.Bai Juyi composed a beautiful but heart-breaking poem The Song ofEverlasting Sorrow in which there is a famoue line：To fly together in the sky，two birds on the same wing，To grow together on the earth，two branches ofone tree.