The most striking feature of this poem in art is that it takes the labor life of slaves as its content and is organized in the narrative order of seasons and months. The whole poem begins with a year of farming from winter to spring and ends with a year of ice cutting, sacrifice and feasting. In the middle six chapters, according to the time sequence of seasons and months, the various labors of male and female slaves in a year, such as picking silkworms, raising silkworms, spinning, hunting, repairing houses, harvesting and serving, are described, which reflects the painful life of agricultural slaves in the early Western Zhou Dynasty from different aspects. They not only have to bear all kinds of hardships for slave owners. The whole poem uses the technique of line drawing, and through objective and concrete description, vividly and comprehensively shows a picture of life in ancient slave society, which makes people feel vivid, true, sad and touching.
It is another artistic feature of this poem to describe the working life of slaves with the emphasis on "clothes" and "food". Some people call this description "positive pen" (see Yao Jiheng's General Theory of the Book of Songs). The first chapter is the general conception of "Zhengbi". "How did you die without clothes or brown?" Order "clothes"; Repair furniture ("Jade"), start spring ploughing ("Recommendation"), and order "food". Food, clothing, housing and transportation, always full text. The second, third, fourth and fifth chapters mainly focus on "clothes"; The sixth and seventh chapters mainly focus on "food". At the end of the chapter, write a New Year's Eve dinner, and both "clothes" and "food" are accepted. The whole poem is long and involves many problems, but because the poet has grasped this general outline, it still makes people feel that the context is clear, the levels are orderly, and there are many but not chaotic, long but not tendril. When describing, the author uses the method of fu (that is, narrative) to describe around the center, or to write about scenery, atmosphere, calendar, what he sees, or feelings, which is within reach, and is the source, but every sentence is closely related to the center.
However, if a poem has only a "regular pen" narrative and no "idle pen" to set off and contrast, it will easily become thin in content and pale in image. Smart artists often say that "there are fewer positive pens and more idle pens, and it is not easy to please with positive pens." All in idle pen to please, drummers pay attention to the edge sound, and painters pay attention to drawing corners "(Yao Jiheng's General Theory of the Book of Songs). The so-called "idle pen" refers to the description of the environment, scenery and other details. Because this kind of description can make the image of the work fuller and the content richer, thus having stronger artistic effect. For example, the first chapter of this article wrote a few words: the winter is coming, the north wind is roaring ("roaring"), and the climate is chilly ("Li Lie"), which not only provides a strong foil for the next winter to start spring ploughing, but also makes a strong contrast for the slave's painful life of "how to die without clothes and brown". In the second chapter, it is written that the spring is beautiful and the oriole ("Cang Geng") crows, pointing out that spring has come, which leads to the girls picking mulberry, and at the same time, it makes a strong contrast to the sad mood of writing "Almost (afraid) my son will return together" below. The fifth chapter is about crickets moving under the bed when the pheasant crows, suggesting that the season changes and the year ends. The next chapter will naturally transition to the slave's "cramming into the house" and "entering the house". Chapter 8 September is crisp and October is sunny, suggesting that farming is finished, paving the way for the following New Year's Eve dinner. Outside, such as "spring comes late, picking Qi Qi"; "Beauty is in April, singing is in May"; "Peel (strike) dates in August and get rice in October". These poems describe the scenery, point out the four seasons, or render the atmosphere, "all set each other off with skill" (Wu Kaisheng's Poetics, Volume I)-that is, they are closely related to the content of the poem and become an organic part of the whole poem. This article is also vivid in details or other descriptions. For example, the first chapter reads "Tian Tu (Tianguan) is very happy", and Tian Tu is the supervisor of slave labor, which shows the personal freedom of slaves. In the second chapter, I wrote "I want soft mulberry" to feed the newborn silkworm; To write "Picking Qi Qi" is to wash the unborn silkworm of Artemisia argyi ("silkworm" means Artemisia argyi, which is easy to come out when boiled), and to write the content of silkworm labor from two aspects. The third chapter describes that silk has four colors: black, yellow, red and fresh to express the joy after work. Writing Reed in August is to prepare for sericulture next year (reed can be woven into silkworm foil). The fourth chapter describes that after the pig was killed, the pig (raccoon) was kept for himself and the wild boar (raccoon) was given to its owner, exposing the social irrationality. The fifth chapter is about "blocking the window facing north and painting the bamboo door with mud" to prepare for winter, which shows the simplicity of the earth house where slaves live. The sixth chapter lists the differences between slave owners and slaves in detail (slave owners eat "depression", "bitterness", "sunflower" and "glutinous rice", while slaves eat "melon", "pot" and "tea"), revealing social inequality. Chapter 7 describes that during the slack season, they cut thatch during the day ("grass grows in the day") and rub ropes at night ("rope grows at night"), which shows that they have no rest day between four o'clock. Because of the description of these contents, the scale of the poem has been expanded and the social content of the poem has been enriched, and the whole poem presents colorful and magnificent wonders.
It is also the artistic feature of this poem to express the theme of the work through strong contrast. For example, in the first chapter, slaves are "naked and brown" in the cold winter, while in the third and fourth chapters, slave owners wear silk products and fox fur coats; The sixth chapter describes that slave owners eat delicious fruits ("potholes" and "thorns") and sunflower ("sunflower") and beans ("glutinous rice"), while slaves eat melons, roe deer ("pot"), pockmarked seeds ("glutinous rice") and bitter vegetables. The fifth chapter describes that slaves live in shabby huts with firewood and bamboo weaving as the portal, and the seventh chapter describes that slave owners live in palaces and mansions. Through the clear connection between food, clothing, housing and transportation, it reveals the essential characteristics of cruel exploitation of slavery, truly reflects the social outlook in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and has high historical and literary value.