The poem "Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons·Part 1" describes the life scenes of rural people working intensely in early summer. The poet writes from the side, through the description of children and grandchildren also learning to grow melons, highlighting the theme that rural men, women, old and young all love labor, which is full of farm life.
The poem "Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons Part 2" describes the natural scenery of the countryside in late spring and expresses the poet's thoughts and feelings about the pastoral scenery.
"Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" is a set of pastoral poems written by Fan Chengda, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty.
One:
Working in the fields during the day and planting hemp at night, the children of the village are responsible for their own affairs. The children and grandchildren are still working for farming and weaving, and they are also learning to grow melons near the mulberry tree.
Translation:
Weeding in the fields during the day and rolling twine at home at night. Men and women in the village each have their own housework. Although the children do not know how to plow and weave, they still learn to grow melons under the shade of the mulberry trees.
Second:
The plums are golden, the apricots are fat, the wheat flowers, white snow and cauliflower are sparse. No one passes through the fence during the long day, only dragonflies and butterflies fly.
Translation:
Early summer is the time when the plums are golden and the apricots are plump. The wheat ears are blooming with white flowers, and the rapeseed flowers are almost gone and are setting seeds. The days are long in summer, and no one passes by the fence. Everyone is busy in the fields, and only dragonflies and butterflies are flying.
Extended information
Creative background
Fan Chengda traveled around the country in his early years. After the age of 57, he retired and lived in Shihu, Suzhou. During this period, he wrote "Four "Pastoral Miscellany" has sixty poems, originally divided into five groups: "Spring", "Late Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter", with twelve poems in each group. Each group can be called a group of poems. Therefore, he won the title of "Pastoral Poet".
The poem describes the scenery of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter in the countryside and the lives of farmers. It also reflects the exploitation suffered by farmers and the hardship of life.
"Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" combines the poetic tradition of describing rural pastoralism from Tao Yuanming to Tang Dynasty Wang Wei, Chu Guangxi, Meng Haoran, Wei Yingwu, etc., as well as from "The Book of Songs·Binfeng·July" until the Tang Dynasty. The "New Yuefu" school of poetry focuses on the integration of poetry traditions that reflect the reality of rural society, changing the ancient style into seven words, showing outstanding creativity in both content and form.
"Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons" is extremely rich in content. The natural scenery of the Jiangnan countryside, farming affairs in the four seasons, and the life experiences of farmers are all shown in it, forming a vivid scroll of rural society. Regardless of narrative, scene description, or romance, they are all clever, natural, rich, and memorable, and have high artistic achievements.
Poem Appreciation
First, this poem describes a scene in rural summer life.
The first sentence "I work in the fields during the day and work on hemp at night" means: I go to the fields to weed during the day and twist the hemp thread at night. "Tilting" means weeding. In early summer, the rice seedlings need to be weeded, and this is a job done by men. "Ji Ma" means that after women finish other work during the day, they knead twine and weave it into cloth at night. This sentence directly describes the labor scene.
The second sentence is "The children of the village are in charge of their own families." "Children" refers to men and women. The whole poem uses the tone of old farmers, and "children" refers to young people. "Head of the family" means that both men and women have no time to spare, and each has his or her own business.
The third sentence "Children and grandchildren are not yet available for farming and weaving." "Children and grandchildren" refers to those children. They don't know how to farm or weave, but they are not idle either. They have been influenced by it since childhood and love to work, so they "learned to grow melons near the mulberry trees", and learned to grow melons under the lush mulberry trees. This is a common phenomenon in rural areas, but it is quite unique. The conclusion expresses the innocence of rural children.
Second, this poem describes the pastoral scenery of Jiangnan in early summer.
The poem uses yellow plums, fat apricots, white wheat flowers, and sparse cauliflowers to describe the characteristics of the southern rural scenery in summer, including flowers and fruits, color and form. The third sentence of the poem describes the working situation of farmers from the side: Farming is busy in early summer, and farmers go out early and return late, so they rarely see pedestrians during the day. The last sentence uses "only dragonflies and butterflies fly" to set off the silence in the village. There is movement in the silence, which makes it appear even quieter.
Baidu Encyclopedia--Four Seasons Pastoral Miscellaneous