"Traveling in the Wilderness" by Yao He
When traveling in the countryside, all the houses are closed.
I’d like to ask the people in the house to become merchants.
Officials do not tax merchants, but tax farmers have to work hard.
The residents are separated from the east and the west, and the roads invade the ridges and acres.
Collect jade on the top of the mountain, search for pearls and enter the water house.
Border soldiers ask for food and clothing, which is the same as dirt.
In ancient times, when one person plowed the land, three people were still hungry.
Nowadays, tens of millions of households don’t have a hoe or plow.
My barns are always empty, and thorns grow in my fields.
If there is no rain from the sky, how can we survive?
Appreciation of Yao He's Poems
The poem "Zhuang Ju Ye Xing" rectified the social trend of valuing business over agriculture that existed in the society at that time, and expressed profound sympathy for the insulted and harmed farmers. Sympathy is similar to Liu Jia's "Anti-Jia Ke Le", and it broadens the themes of Tang poetry creation.
This poem is quite distinctive in its use of the artistic expression technique of Fu.
The poet directly describes the poet's "wild journey" as soon as he writes, highlighting the desolate and desolate reality of rural areas where "every house is closed". Then, the poet excavated and analyzed the social reasons why farmers "closed their homes" to engage in business, explaining that the fundamental reason why farmers were forced to become homeless and wander around was that "officials did not tax merchants, and tax farmers had to work hard." Next, the poet showed the farmers·3691·"Tang Poetry Appreciation Ceremony"
The hardships of being forced to pick jade and pearls and the life of the farmers who were extorted by the border soldiers, and the vast time from ancient times to the present In the field, it flogged the foolish actions of "officials" who forced farmers to do business, thereby expressing the poet's sorrow and hatred for the turbulent social situation. The angry question at the end of the poem, "If there is no rain from the sky, why should we live in the sun?" embodies the poet's deep concern for the peasants.
The expression technique of Fu lies in writing about objects and objects, and it is mostly used in narrative poems. This poem is almost entirely composed of poems. The poet starts from the social status quo of "every house is closed" at the beginning, unfolds the scenes layer by layer, and expands the picture, from "field" to "house", from "in the house" to "house". "Long acres", from "mountain top" to "water house", from "ancient times" to "now", from "cang" to "field"... all have reached the point of "taking shape with things", and every aspect of the environment As time goes on, the lines are always filled with emotion, allowing readers to see the policy of valuing commerce over agriculture in the late Tang Dynasty through the emotional adverbs of time and degree such as "Ji", "Jin", "Jiu", "Chang", etc. Although the unfortunate consequences brought to society are straightforward, they are quite touching and artistic.
In addition, the language of this poem is popular and the contrasts are neat. Such as "picking jade on the top of the mountain, searching for pearls in the water house" and other sentences. Sentences such as "In ancient times, when one person plowed the land, three people were starving to eat; now tens of thousands of households don't even have a hoe or plow." The contrast is sharp and the irony is profound.