Secondly, a five-character poem by Li Shen, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, means:
On a hot summer day, farmers bent over the fiery red sun and kept working in the fields. Their sweat drops by drops, like a string of glittering and translucent beads, fall on the hot land and evaporate instantly. However, even with such efforts, the farmers' harvest is still meager and it is difficult to meet their living needs.
At the beginning of the poem, "It's noon for hoes" depicts the scene of farmers working hard in the fields with hoes in their hands at noon. Here, "it's noon" emphasizes the heat of time, and "weeding" highlights the hardships and heaviness of farmers' labor.
Next, in the sentence "Sweat drips on the earth", the poet makes people see the scene of farmers sweating like rain and their efforts to survive through the image description. "Sweat drops" and "grass under the soil" are in sharp contrast. One is hard work, and the other is a meager harvest, which makes people sympathize with the hard life of farmers.
Then, in the sentence "Who knows what's on the plate", the poet emphasized that it is hard-won for people to cherish every grain of food by asking questions. "Chinese food on the plate" here refers to the food on people's tables, and behind these foods, there are countless hard work and sweat of farmers. Therefore, we should cherish every grain and should not waste it.
Finally, in the sentence "Every grain is hard", the poet summed up the process of farmers' hard work and the hard-won food in short language. Here, "grain by grain" refers to every grain, while "all hardships" emphasizes the hardships of farmers behind these grains. Therefore, we should respect the fruits of farmers' labor and cherish every grain.
Generally speaking, Compassion for Peasants II is a poem that reflects the hardships of peasants' lives. Through image description and sharp contrast, the poet emphasized the hard work of farmers and the hard-won food.
At the same time, we also call on people to cherish food and respect the fruits of farmers' labor. This poem not only has profound ideological significance, but also has a strong enlightening effect. It makes people realize that any food is hard to come by, and we should cherish every food and the fruits of labor behind it.