This poem describes the life of a sailor by the water. Through an inner monologue of a sailor, it writes about the unbearable pain of serving on the water and accuses the unreasonable labor system at that time, which is very hierarchical.
"Bitter grows as a post", and the word "bitter" always leads the whole poem at the beginning, which sets the sentimental tone of the whole poem. The sailor blurted out this sigh, indicating that his inner sorrow is hard to restrain. This strong feeling has firmly grasped the reader's heart. "The butler made me take the post boat", which pointed out the cause of the sailor's pain. In ancient times, there were two kinds of official traffic posts, land and water, which lived by the water and served as a guide for the water post. "The butler made me" means that the sailor tugboat was forced. These two sentences are always written about the pain of serving in the post office by growing up at the water's edge. Then, the poet used a long passage from "more hard days and less fun days" to "singing songs of rowing in unison" to let the boatman specifically tell the bitterness of his life of leading a boat. "More hard days and less fun days, water stays and sands travel like seabirds", which goes a step further than the previous description and uses a metaphor. Comparing people to seabirds, it is said that the life of a tracker stays in a water boat at night like seabirds, and walks on the sand every day, leading a completely inhuman life. Then the poet used delicate brushstrokes to describe the life of the tracker from day to night and from night to Ming. First write about the difficulty of leading a boat during the day. In the previous sentence, the headwind is one layer, the current is one layer, and the ship is one layer heavy, detailing the difficulties of sailing conditions; Sailing is so difficult, and the post station in front is so far away, the waves are boundless, and the miserable days of the tracker seem to be endless. After writing the bitterness of pulling the boat at night. The poet wrote about a cold night of rain and snow. The trackers wore short coats, their chests were frayed by the ropes, and their feet were frozen and cracked. They all endured all the bitterness helplessly. Working all night, but without any reward, but "there is nowhere to talk about hard work", what can the tracker say in front of the brutal butler? I had to keep my anger in my heart, "sing the boat songs in unison" and vent my inner grievances with songs.
but the trackers didn't escape from this abyss of suffering. "What is the value of a hut? You can't go to your parents' hometown.". All the property of the tracker is only a hut, which is not worth nostalgia, but the hometown is reluctant to leave. Even if they flee from the water town, their situation will not be much better. "Tian Jia has no food and clothing, and he is happy when he doesn't see the county gate!" (Tian Jia Xing) Without the corvee on the water, there would be corvee and rent on the land, and Tian Jia suffered the same exploitation and oppression from the government. In the helpless situation, the tracker had to pin his hope of changing the predicament on such a fantasy: "I hope this water will level the field, so that the sailor will not complain about the sky for a long time." Of course, it is unrealistic to change water into flat fields. Even if they change flat fields, they will also be squeezed and bullied by the government.
The psychological description of the tracker in the poem is meticulous and hierarchical, from lamentation to sorrow, to resentment, and to helplessness, revealing its inner world to the fullest. With the change of the sailor's thoughts and feelings, the poems constantly change their rhyme, which makes people feel that the sailor has poured out so much sorrow and resentment. Because the psychology of the characters is fully revealed, the image of the sailor is also typical. What the poet wrote is a sailor's self-report, but it reflects the painful life of the people in the whole water town. The language of poetry not only has the beauty of popular and smooth folk songs, but also has the style of refined police in literati works, which is quite distinctive. Without amazing pen and flowery words, the poet expresses his true feelings from the seemingly plain and detailed description, brewing poetry. It seems unremarkable, but in fact it has an endless aftertaste. As Wang Anshi of Song said, "It seems to be the most extraordinary, but it is as easy as it is hard!" ("Zhang Si Ye Shi")