Written in July in Bindi, which is now Xunyi County and Binqe area of ??Shaanxi Province, that era was an agricultural era.
Introduction to the work
Binfeng·July is a poem in the Book of Songs, the first collection of poems in ancient China. This poem reflects the agricultural production conditions and farmers' daily life in the early Zhou Dynasty. It not only has important historical value, but is also an outstanding narrative and lyrical poem.
The whole poem has eight chapters. The first chapter is written from the end of the year to the beginning of spring plowing; the second chapter is about women's sericulture; the third chapter is about the production of cloth and clothing; the fourth chapter is about hunting wild animals; the fifth chapter is about the end of the year and cleaning up the house for the winter; Chapter 6 talks about collecting fruits and vegetables and making wine, all for the public. The food collected for oneself is melons, gourds, pockmarks, bitter herbs and the like;
Chapter 7 talks about repairing houses for the public after the harvest. Or work indoors, and then repair the family hut; the last chapter writes about the work of cutting ice and the annual end-of-year drink.
The entire text is written in the form of "Fu", centered around the word "bitter", and is written according to the order of seasons, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from farming and raising silkworms to hunting and cutting ice, reflecting the four seasons of the year. It features multi-level work surfaces and high-intensity labor. The language is simple and unpretentious. It is written entirely in a narrative way. The tone is sad and bitter, as if it is crying out a heavy history.
Appreciation
Binfeng·July is the longest poem in "The Book of Songs·Guofeng". This poem reflects the working life of the Zhou tribe throughout the year, involving all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation. Because the author is a member of the tribe, his tone is cool and his angles are extremely accurate. It shows the customs of the society at that time from all aspects, such as spring plowing, autumn harvest, winter storage, mulberry picking, dyeing, sewing, hunting, house building, wine making, etc. He wrote about everything from labor to banquets.
The poem was written starting in July, unfolding each scene month by month according to the order of farming activities and using a straightforward narrative technique. The poem uses a weekly calendar. The weekly calendar uses the eleventh month of the Xia calendar (today's lunar calendar, also known as the lunar calendar) as the first month, and July, August, September, October, April, May, and June are all the same as the Xia calendar.
Ancient Chinese poetry has always been dominated by lyric poetry, with fewer narrative poems. This poem is mainly about narrative. In the narrative, the scene is described lyrically, with vivid images and rich poetic flavor. Through the eloquent narration of the characters in the poem, it truly shows the labor scenes, life scenes and the faces of various characters at that time, as well as the relationship between farmers and the public, forming a custom painting of men farming and women weaving in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. .
The Book of Songs has three techniques of expression: Fu, Bi, and Xing. This poem uses Fu to "state the story" and "give shapes to the things", which reflects the reality of life. Readers will have this feeling if they read any chapter carefully. This poem also embodies the characteristics of combining elegance and ode. The whole poem uses wind, elegance or praise according to the needs of the narrative. The combination of the three forms the simple and fresh style, the elegant and gorgeous characteristics of this poem, and the characteristics of solemn prayer.