Original poem:
A gentleman is in service. He doesn't know its date. What is this? Chickens live in the noise. In the evening, the cattle and sheep came down. My husband is serving in the distance. How can I think of him?
A gentleman is in service, in a few days or months. What are the advantages? Chickens live in the street. At the end of the night, all the cattle and sheep gathered around. If a gentleman is in service, will he be hungry?
Translation:
Gentlemen go out to serve, I don't know the time limit. When can I go back to Li? Chickens return to their nests, the sun hangs in the west, and cattle and sheep rest down the mountain. How can a gentleman miss home when he is serving in a distant place?
A gentleman goes out to serve, but he doesn't know when to go. When can we get together again? The chicken returns to the fence, the sun sets, and the cattle and sheep return slowly. A gentleman is not thirsty or hungry when he goes out to serve.
Source: The Book of Songs
Poetry appreciation
The description of typical environment is the remarkable feature of this poem. By sketching and thinking about women's feelings, the author filtered out several scenes and painted the countryside at night vividly.
The afterglow of the sunset reflected the villages in the country. On the winding mountain road, there are the voices of Niu Jiao sheep, farmers with hoes, mulberry girls with baskets, woodcutter and shepherd boys with baskets. In the yard near the village, chickens and ducks play and chase, scrambling to board the raft; I only think of a lonely woman, alone at home, looking at the distance, and never seeing her husband again on the way home.
Vivid artistic conception, no need to write feelings with a pen, but the pen is full of emotions and lyricism. The rural scenery of "work at sunrise and rest at sunset" contrasts with the fact that the expropriated people have no fixed place and return home at no time; The happy atmosphere of six animals returning to the pen and birds returning to the nest reflects the loneliness and sadness of thinking about women's parting and longing for return; It is lingering, deep and distant, which makes people feel excited and heartbroken. The poem begins with a description of a thousand miles away from people at dusk, which is regarded as a standard by later scholars.