Look at those poor fishermen, floating up and down in the big waves and rocking in the boats.
—— Fan Zhongyan
This poem, with its simple language and vivid image, naturally reminds people of the famous sentence "Who knows that every grain is hard" in Tang poetry (Li Shen's "Compassion for Agriculture") and the author's idea of "worrying about the world first, and enjoying the world later". There are only twenty words in the whole poem, but the words are near and far in meaning, and the words are shallow and deep in meaning, which can trigger rich associations.
The first sentence is about people coming and going on the river bank, bustling and very lively. What are they doing? Naturally leads to the second sentence. It turns out that the purpose of people coming and going by the river is "but love the beauty of perch". But love is only love. Perch has a flat and narrow body, a large head and thin scales, and is delicious. People gathered at the river in order to get there first. But who knows that it is not easy to catch bass, and who has observed the hardships of fishermen? How unfair it is that the world only loves the delicious bass, but does not pity the fishermen's hard work! So the author constructs a vivid picture in three or four sentences to reflect the hard work of fishermen on the river. A leaf boat, lingering in the wind and rain, is really "life is at stake, and the weather is unpredictable." Why do fishermen take such risks? The poet came to an abrupt end without making it clear, and the reader could understand the author's implication. This is: fishermen are completely forced by life, and the beauty of perch is bought by fishermen's suffering! This inexhaustible technique makes poetry implicit and meaningful and memorable.
This poem is full of the poet's concern and sympathy for fishermen sailing in rough waves, and also expresses the poet's advice to people who only love the beauty of perch on the river. In the sharp contrast between the two environments on the river and on the boat, in the two dynamics of "going back and forth" and in the two lives of fish eaters and fishermen, the poet's intention is shown.