"Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" by Fan Dacheng

Four Seasons of Pastoral Excitement⑴ Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty went out to work in the fields during the day⑵ and harvested hemp at night⑶,

The children of the village were each responsible for their own affairs⑷.

The children and grandchildren have not yet learned how to cultivate and weave for ⑸ and ⑹.

They also learn to grow melons by mulberry trees.

Notes

⑴ Zaxing: Psalms written at random without a fixed theme.

⑵ Farming: weeding.

⑶ Ji Ma: twist the hemp into thread.

⑷ Each person is in charge: Everyone has a certain job.

⑸Unsolved: Don’t understand.

⑹ Offer: engage in, participate in. ⑺Pong: close.

Explanation

See "Fan Shihu Collection". When the author retired to his hometown of Wuxian County (now part of Jiangsu) in his later years, he wrote sixty poems in a group of seven unique poems titled "Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" based on the rural life in the four seasons and the joys and sorrows of farmers. joy.

Translation: When we go out to weed during the day and seize hemp at night, the children of the peasant family can take care of their own household.

The little grandson doesn’t know how to plow the fields and weave, and he also learns to grow melons under the shade of a mulberry tree.

Appreciation The Southern Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda (1126-1193) is famous for his poem "Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" which describes the rural scenery. The four seasons are the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter in a year. The poet uses a fresh style of writing to give a relatively detailed description of the natural scenery and farmers' working life in various periods of the countryside, which is very interesting to read. At the same time, because he had a certain sympathy for the peasants, he also reflected the exploitation of the peasants by the government and rural landlords and the hardship of their lives in these poems. This is one of those group poems, describing a small scene in rural life. It is written from the side, reflecting the tense labor atmosphere and interesting life in the countryside.

The scene unfolds like this, early summer, a busy season for small farmers. In the rice fields, green seedlings have grown up, and barnyard grass has also grown along with them. At this time it is time to till the fields, that is, to weed. "Working in the fields by day", going to the fields to weed during the day, this was the work of men at that time.

A feudal society that was basically a self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy relied on its own production of food and clothing. At that time, the technology of growing cotton had not yet spread widely in China, and clothing was dependent on raising silkworms and growing hemp. Rich people wear silk, poor people wear burlap. The process of making linen cloth is to harvest ramie, soak it in water, remove the skin, extract the fibers, dry them in the sun, then twist them into threads, which is called "jima", and then weave them into cloth. Women finish other household chores during the day, and then become exhausted at night. Yuncao and Jima, as examples, correspond to the second sentence of "The children of the village are responsible for their own affairs." "Children" refer to men and women. Judging from the tone of the characters in the poem, they naturally refer to young people. Poetically speaking: In the village, men and women have no leisure. "Heading the family" means that everyone does his own thing and takes care of his own business. The meaning here is different from what we often call "the master of the country" now. In addition to adults who are busy working, there is another kind of people, children who are not busy at all. But they also got into the rush of production in another way. "Children and grandchildren" refers to the younger generation of children. These little children do not have the ability to work yet, and they cannot plow or weave. Note that the word "unsolved" means "cannot do". If you can, you can also participate in the labor of "cultivating the fields" and "producing hemp". Although they won't, they don't stay idle. So what to do? Children in rural areas are familiar with the agricultural life of adults, and have developed the habit of loving labor since childhood. So they work under the mulberry trees in groups, imitating adults and planting crops. What about the melon? This is a common thing in rural areas, but it is unique. Here, the children who cannot participate in labor are like this, so how are the adults who are shouldering the heavy burden of labor busy producing?

Although the description of children and grandchildren planting melons is written from the side, it is not a foil, but an in-depth one. Written in this way, it exudes a strong flavor of life in art and unfolds a picture of enthusiastic labor production in front of people, leaving a strong charm in the language of the poem. There are different opinions on the reading of "Zaxing" in the poem "Four Seasons Pastoral Zaxing". I think that in order to understand the meaning of "zaxing", we need to interpret the two words separately. "Miscellaneous" has three interpretations in the "Modern Chinese Dictionary": ① Various; ② Other than positive items and formal; ③ Mixed together. "Xing" is a polyphonic character. When pronounced as Yin (the first tone), it has seven interpretations: 1. Prosper; popular; 2. Make popular; 3. Begin; start; establish; 4. Start; get up; 5. Allow (dialect, mostly used in negative); 6. (dialect) Perhaps when the surname ⑦ is pronounced with the lowering tone, there is only one interpretation: interest; interest. Through the above list, we will gradually discover the word "miscellaneous" from the reasoning, so we will take the second lecture, which is extended to informal. (Miscellaneous Notes, Miscellaneous Stories, and Miscellaneous Articles are mostly close to this meaning) When analyzing the explanation of the word "Xing", it seems that we can't find a suitable explanation that corresponds to "Miscellaneous". If we think about common sense in classical literature, we will suddenly realize that when the word "Xing" is pronounced with the consonant removed, there is one missing explanation in the "Modern Chinese Dictionary". "Poetry is a technique of expression that evokes emotions from the scene. Preface to the poem Zhou Nanguan Sui: 'Therefore, poetry has six meanings. The first is wind, the second is Fu, the third is Bi, the fourth is Xing, the fifth is Ya, and the sixth is Ode." Collection of Biography : 'To express something else first to evoke the words to be chanted.'----"Ciyuan" Looking at the poems of the Tang and Song dynasties, such topics are also common.

"Miscellaneous Xing" Jiao Ran (Tang Dynasty) "The fate of life has been determined, and wealth and honor can come in vain. If you don't see the mud on the bottom of the sea, it flies up into dust." "Miscellaneous Xing in Spring" Lu You (Southern Song Dynasty) "Burning firewood every night to warm the quilt, Yu Zhong One meal is worth a thousand gold. Being a wild old man has no responsibility, and the wanderers on the road are tempted. ""Zaxing" Li Qi (Tang Dynasty) "It is said that there are many strange things in Niuzhuji when pedestrians hold them at night. Riding on a horse and driving back and forth, the waves are shaking like a hidden stone, and the dragon is lying on the black spring. The father-in-law once said, "Something evil will harm you." The dream is a disaster, and the heroes of the past are buried in the ghost house. The green orchids are very fragrant, and the spring fish is found to be unlucky. "Good and evil are consistent in life and death, and they should only fight for wine." "Spring Miscellaneous" Ren Yucheng (Song Dynasty) "Two peach and apricot trees are slanting against the fence, decorating the house of the deputy envoy of Shangzhou." Why can't the spring breeze tolerate it, and the orioles blow and break a few branches of flowers. ' "Miscellaneous Xing" An Xia (Qing Dynasty) "There are bamboos hidden deep in the house, and no flowers leaning against the walls." Take "Four Seasons Pastoral Miscellaneous Xing" as an example. The poet Fan Chengda resigned from office at the age of 58 and retired to Shihu Lake. He wrote sixty poems called "Pastoral Miscellaneous". Although the poems are titled "Miscellaneous", they fully reflect the real life in rural areas of Jiangnan. What is particularly valuable is that the poet combined the exposure of feudal exploitation and the expression of farmers' hardworking and simple virtues with the description of rural customs and scenery, so that in addition to describing the scenery, the pastoral poem also contains profound social content. This is Fan Chengda made a great contribution to the development of pastoral poetry. Although "Fu, Bi, Xing" is a summary of the expression techniques of Pre-Qin poetry by later generations, it has a profound influence on the entire creation of Chinese classical poetry. Fu expresses emotion through narrative, Bi expresses emotion through description of scenery, and Xing expresses emotion through touching objects. As a poem, emotion organically connects the three, so that the lyrical characteristics of poetry are undoubtedly revealed. From the above content, combined with the meaning of the words "Za" and "Xing", we can completely deduce that "Zaxing" refers to poems written randomly without a fixed theme, but the technique is mainly based on the scene and the emotion, which is the so-called "touch". Things are said to be prosperous when they arouse emotions, and things are moved by emotions." Therefore, it is self-explanatory what the pronunciation of "Zaxing" means.

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