Tian Family
Nie Yizhong
Series: Ancient Poems about Concern for the Country and the People
Tian Family
The father plowed the plains and went to the fields, while the son cultivated the wilderness at the bottom of the mountain.
In June, the crops have not yet shown, and the officials have already built warehouses.
Notes
1游: big hoe, used as a verb here. It means digging.
2. He: grass seedlings, especially rice seedlings.
Show 3: The grains sprout and flowers bloom.
My father is plowing in the mountains, and my son is clearing land at the foot of the mountain. It is already June, and the rice in the fields has not yet headed, but the official tax warehouse has been repaired and is waiting for collection. Convergence.
Appreciation
Among the numerous poems of compassion for farmers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the most short and concise work is Li Shen's "Two Poems of Compassion for Farmers", which we will discuss next. Consider Nie Yizhong's "Tian Family". At first glance, the content of this poem is plain, the language is clear, and the words are simple, and there is almost nothing mysterious about it. However, it can achieve a great effect with the least words, making it very readable. This is by no means accidental. . The main form of exploitation for farmers in the feudal era was land rent. In troubled times like the late Tang Dynasty, the feudal state's expenditures were huge and funds were scarce, which would inevitably intensify the exploitation of farmers. The purpose of writing this poem is to expose this dark reality. If we start from the perspective of rent collection, it will take a lot of writing and the actual effect may not be good. One of the writing characteristics of this poem is that it puts aside this positive description and only selects the scene in front of the title of rent collection, that is, the farmers are working hard and the officials are waiting for the rent collection. The period of "the officials are in storage" is over. The purpose of building a barn and what the farmer's fate will be are left to the reader's imagination. The author saves a lot of effort, but "doesn't say a single word, and is all romantic."
Commentators often know the beauty of concrete images in poetic language, but they don't know that there are also general and abstract ones. wonderful. The poem "One grain of millet is planted in spring, and ten thousand seeds are harvested in autumn." It is like using a general description to summarize the general story of a good harvest, and is not known for its specific images. The same goes for the first two sentences of this poem, "The father plows the fields, and the son plows the wilderness at the foot of the mountain." It does not just describe the events of a father and son family, but highly summarizes the families of thousands of farmers. It is a common situation among farmers to plow at dawn, and the cattle are unable to move forward. "The original field" and "the wilderness under the mountain" do not refer specifically to a certain mountain or plain, but generally refer to the mature fields that have been plowed and the fields that are waiting to be cultivated. Wasteland, written from plowing to land reclamation, concisely and effectively depicts the hard work of farmers all year round, with almost no leisure time. The ten words have a high degree of coverage and increase the typicality of the poetry. It has almost become a microcosm of rural life in feudal society.
When exposing irony, the poet does not make comments but focuses on presenting facts to make people think. The phrase "The crops are not showing in June" does not only refer to the immaturity of the crops. Under normal circumstances, the wheat seedlings should be in bloom ("show") in April and May, and the harvest should have been harvested in June. If "the crops are not showing", it means there is a drought, implying a bad harvest. According to the two tax laws of the Tang Dynasty, June is the time when summer taxes should be paid, so "officials have built warehouses." Officials building warehouses itself implies that they are spying on the fruits of farmers' labor and are about to deprive them of them. This kind of The peek appears in "June before the crops show up", which makes it even more meaningful. "The grain is not showing" and the warehouse is "has been repaired", one "wei" and the other "has", the two words echo each other. Farmers are anxious to achieve success, officials are unable to catch up on rent collection, and the rulers are indifferent to the people. All these facts are reflected in it. The author's concern for the people and farmers is also vividly reflected on the page.
Any of these techniques can achieve the effect of being concise and meaningful. And this poem appropriately uses these three techniques at the same time, and the artistic effect is even more significant.