Zhou Li divided these eleven agricultural poems into three categories: prayer poems, elegant prayer poems and ode poems. July in The Wind is a poem. In Xiaoya, Chutz, New Nanshan, Fu Tian and Daejeon are four articles: elegance; Si Wen, Chen Gong, Ai Ai Ai, Feng Nian, Zai Yi and Liang Yi in Zhou Zuoren are six children's poems.
According to Zhou Li. According to Guan Chun, the above-mentioned more than 10 agricultural poems have an obvious purpose of offering sacrifices to pray for the New Year: "In the middle (middle) spring, drums are played in the daytime, and prophetic poems are played, in order to reflect (welcome) the Ministry. The Mid-Autumn Festival night also ushered in the cold. Countries pay New Year greetings in Tianzu, playing Pianya and playing drums. The national sacrifice wax is (blowing) the "Ode to Scripture", knocking on the drum to rest the old things. " It can be seen that these works are all music songs used by Zhou people for sacrifice. On the occasion of the annual cold and hot trade, a ceremony was held. At this ceremony, everyone got together, played drums and sang "Oracle" to pray for clear order and good weather. When offering sacrifices to ancestors or wax, this ceremony is also used to pray for a bumper harvest and let everything rest. Therefore, these music songs with farming as the content are actually sacrificial songs used to pray for a bumper harvest on specific occasions.
Because these agricultural poems in the Zhou Dynasty have obvious religious purposes, these eleven agricultural poems are actually a mixture of religious activities and farming life-a mixture of sacrifice and farming; The integration of religious spirit and rural customs; The purpose of praying for the New Year and describing the labor scene are mixed; This confusion is not an individual phenomenon, it exists in these eleven agricultural poems to varying degrees. About July, we will stay here for an interview. Ten Poems of Farmers in Song Ya were not highly appraised in the past, because it didn't show the life and feelings of lower-class farmers more. In fact, these works provide us with another perspective, that is, how to describe agricultural activities for the purpose of praying for the New Year and seeking the blessing of the gods. Of course, these poems are the ideas of upper-class people observing rural life, and also for the purpose of praying for the New Year, which makes these poems have some decorative elements, but after all, they still reflect some real situations in Zhou society: most of these poems first describe farmers' reclamation and farming:
Pi Futian takes 10 thousand at the age of ten. I took it away from the past and ate my farmers. It has been several years since ancient times.
This is the time to go to Nantian, or plow or plant, and plant millet and millet. You lie down, you stop, I'm embarrassed. (Futian)
Ota has a lot of crops, which are planted and warned, and everything is ready. With me, I shared the burden of Nanmu and sowed a hundred valleys, which was both the imperial court and the master. (Daejeon)
Similar narratives can also be found in poems such as Qiuci, Alas, and Harvest Year. Naturally, these poems do not reflect the fatigue and poverty of lower-class farmers, but show their impressions of farming as farmers or high-level rulers. Large-scale farming, crops grow well, agricultural officials and farmers keep their jobs, and the poem is full of the landlord's satisfaction with life. This satisfaction also extends to the scene of grain Man Cang and praying for prosperity after the autumn harvest:
Since what I used to be, I am Xiaomi. I am Xiaomi. I am Xiaomi. My warehouse is profitable and I am rich. I think I can eat and drink so that I can enjoy it as a sacrifice. I will cook a good meal and introduce the scenery. ("Chutz")
In a good year, there are many crops, many crops, and high, trillion, and crops. ("good years")
In the eyes of rulers, the prosperity of agriculture and the abundance of crops are naturally attractive scenery, but what they want is the blessing of the gods and eternal happiness. Therefore, these poems without exception turned to the sacrificial scene of praying for eternal inheritance:
Keep it for Kong Shuo. Burned or roasted, your wife Momo is a bean pit. For guests, for guests, the rewards are staggered. I lost my manners and my jokes. God's protection is a case, and the reward is a blessing and a long life. ("Chutz")
Come to worship, with its black, but its millet. It was built to sacrifice it, not to do great things. (Daejeon)
The narrative mode of Song Ya's agricultural poems generally ranges from land reclamation to harvesting crops, and then to offering sacrifices and praying for blessings, which shows that these agricultural poems have a distinct utilitarian purpose, that is, to pray for the gods to bless the good weather and enjoy the beautiful scenery forever. I guess this kind of poem should originate from the sacrificial activities of ancient tribes. By describing people's activities, they praised the great growth of the tribe in order to seek the blessing of the gods. Song Ya's agricultural poems, which combine farming with sacrifice, should also originate from the ancient custom of praying for the New Year.
The value of these works is that they can supplement July, and some scenes it shows are not available in July. For example, the large-scale reclamation activities in the Zhou Dynasty, the social situation of bumper harvest at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the custom of greeting the New Year and so on. Only by combining July can we fully understand the pastoral and farming life of Zhou people. Therefore, our evaluation of it cannot be limited to whether it shows the life of the lower class, because the content of such poems is a real phenomenon in Zhou society after all. And its artistic peace and elegance can naturally be unique in the Book of Songs.