(1) If you plant a millet in spring, you will reap 10,000 in autumn.
There is no waste of heaven and earth, and the toiling peasants are still starving to death.
(2) When weeding is at noon, sweat drips into the soil.
Who would have thought that our bowl of rice and grain are full of the blood and sweat of farmers?
2. Appreciation: At the beginning of the first song, "a grain of millet" was changed into "10,000 seeds" to describe the harvest concretely and vividly, and "sowing" and "harvesting" were used to praise the farmers' labor.
"There are no idle fields in the four seas, and farmers still starve to death." The last two sentences of the poem say that in the whole world, no land is abandoned and cultivated, and working farmers will still starve to death.
By extension, the third sentence describes that within the four seas, wasteland becomes fertile land. This is linked with the first two sentences, which constitutes a fruitful scene everywhere. "Man" is for stronger "Mao". The progressive brushwork of the poet's first three sentences shows the great contribution and infinite creativity of the working people, making the following knot more dignified and painful. So what if there is a bumper harvest? "Farmers still starve to death" not only makes the content coherent, but also highlights the problem. Hard-working farmers got a bumper harvest with their hands, but they were still empty-handed and starved to death. Poetry forces people to think with a heavy heart: Who created the human tragedy? The answer is clear. The poet put all this behind the scenes for readers to look for. This points the finger at the unreasonable social wealth distribution system.
The second poem, the first sentence "mowing the grass at noon", summarizes the activities, time and weather of farmers. At noon, it means that at noon, the sun is shining and it is the hottest time of the day. Poets generally don't write about how farmers are tired of weeding, but focus on him and the first sentence "It's noon". At noon in summer, under the scorching sun, farmers are weeding and loosening the soil in the fields. Due to the hot weather and high labor intensity, the farmers were so tired that sweat dripped into the soil under the seedlings.
The third and fourth sentences "Who knows that every meal is hard?" . It is the poet who expresses his feelings. Plate, plate, here refers to the bowl. Rice, refers to the food. All, all. Meaning: Who knows that every grain of rice in the bowl is obtained by farmers' hard work? The implication is, shouldn't everyone cherish every grain of food and respect the work of farmers?
The language of this poem is plain and easy to understand, but it is very touching. The main reason is to reveal one of the most important problems in life with the help of image description and image discussion. Describe and write in detail the weeding in farmers' fields under the scorching sun; The discussion revolves around the "Chinese food on the plate" that everyone needs. Besides, poetry is closely related and logical. Without the description of the first two sentences, the last two sentences are vague, without foundation and strength. On the contrary, without the following discussion, the previous description would remain superficial and its significance would not be so profound.
Compared with those famous poems, these two short poems are not excellent in the flowery Tang poetry world, but they are widely spread, well known to women and children, and it is not unreasonable to be recited and tasted by people.
First of all, the contents of these two poems are the most familiar things that people often come into contact with. However, you don't really know what you are most familiar with. There are many things in life that you turn a blind eye to. If someone tries to enlighten you, explain the essence, or point out some truth involved, you will feel very eye-catching and clear, thus deepening your understanding. This is the reason why these two poems have vitality.
"Planting a millet in spring and harvesting 10,000 seeds in autumn" is probably familiar to everyone. But it is often difficult for poets to get in touch with society and class and think about some problems. The poet thought of it. However, he saw the cruel reality that "farmers are still starving to death" from the harvest scene of Tianxia. This dial is surprisingly eye-catching and naturally left a deep impression on people. Another example is "Chinese food on a plate", which people touch every day and eat at every meal. However, no one thought of linking this grain with the sweat of farmers under the scorching sun. The poet observed it keenly and condensed it into a poem "Every grain is hard". This enlightens people, makes them think about the truth, and makes those who do not know how to cherish food deeply educated.
Secondly, when the poet expounds the above contents, he does not use vague abstractions, but uses vivid images and profound contrasts to expose problems and explain the reasons, so that people can easily accept and understand them. Like the first three sentences of the first song, in general, they all use vivid images to summarize the hard work of farmers in the vast fields, such as spring planting and autumn harvest. These sufferings have brought a lot of food, so we can live, but the last sentence has become "farmers are still starving." In this way, the situation before and after is in sharp contrast, which causes readers to think about problems and draw conclusions from the comparison, which is much more profound and powerful than the author telling readers his own views directly. Another example is the second song. The first two sentences of the author didn't say how hard it is for farmers to farm and how difficult it is for crops to grow. He just made an image of the plot of farmers sweating in the hot sun, which made people make this hard and hard taste more concrete, profound and real. Therefore, the poet finally said in a rhetorical tone that "everyone knows that every meal is hard" is very convincing. In particular, comparing the grain to a drop of sweat is really subtle and vivid.
Finally, the language of the poems is simple, the syllables are harmonious and lively, catchy and easy to recite, which is also the reason why these two short poems have been circulated among the people for a long time.
3. Translation:
(1) As long as you sow a seed in spring, you can harvest a lot of food in autumn.
All over the world, there are no fields that are not cultivated, and there are no fields that are not cultivated, but there are still farmers working, but they starve to death.
(2) At noon in midsummer, under the scorching sun, farmers are still working and sweat drips into the soil.
Who would have thought that every grain of rice in our bowl was bought by farmers' hard work?