Po Chü-i (bô jü-ē), 772–846, Chinese poet. He occupied several important government posts, rising to the presidency of the imperial board of war in 841. He wrote over 3,000 poems, brief, topical verses expressed in very simple, clear language. Perhaps his most noted poem is the Song of Everlasting Regret (806), which recounts the sufferings of Emperor Ming Huang on the murder of his concubine by rebels. The poem figures prominently in The Tale of Genji, the 10th-century Japanese novel by Murasaki Shikibu; Po's work gained wide popularity throughout East Asia. He continued to write despite partial paralysis and enjoyed great fame during his lifetime.

Bibliography

See A. Waley, The Life and Times of Po Chü-i (1949); E. Feifel, Po Chü-i as a Censor (1961).

Bo Juyi

or Po Chü-i

(born 772, Xinzheng, China—died 846, Luoyang) Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. He began composing poetry at age 5, and at age 28 he passed the examinations for the Chinese civil service. He rose steadily in official life and became the informal leader of a group of poets who rejected the courtly style of the time, believing that poetry should have a moral and social purpose. His satirical ballads and poems of social protest often took the form of free verse based on old folk ballads. He was revered in both China and Japan, where his poems, notably the “Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” became material for other literary works.