Minnong
Li Shen
After cutting the grain at noon, sweat dripped down the soil.
Who knows that every meal in the plate is bitter.
Author background
Li Shen (772-846) was a poet in Tang Dynasty. Gong Chui was born in Wuxi (now Wuxi, Jiangsu). He was an active participant in the new Yuefu movement and the earliest practitioner of creating new Yuefu poems, which was closely related to Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen.
Annotation explanation
He: He Miao.
Chinese food on a plate: food in a bowl.
Modern Translation of Ancient Poetry
At noon, when farmers were weeding hard, sweat dripped into the soil under the ears of grain. Who knows that every meal on the plate is the hard work of farmers.
Appreciation of Famous Sentences-"Who knows that every grain of Chinese food is hard?"
The beginning of the poem reminds people of the hard work of farmers in the hot noon, and expresses deep sympathy and respect for farmers. With a very simple style, the poet sketched a scene of field work: farmers are not avoiding the scorching sun, but sweating like rain, reminding people that every grain is hard to come by. This scene is very prominent in the poem, and it can also remind us that how many people are enjoying the fruits of farmers' labor in the shade? Those rich people's rich "meals on the plate" are just the sweat of farmers working hard in the wind and rain and under the scorching sun! This sharp contrast shows us the poet's sympathy for the peasants and his dissatisfaction with the unequal reality.
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At the beginning of "Compassion for Farmers", it describes the bumper harvest concretely and vividly by turning "one millet" into "10,000 seeds", and praises the farmers' labor with "planting" and "harvesting". The third sentence is extended to the fact that wasteland becomes fertile land within the four seas. Together, these first two sentences form a vivid picture of fruitful results and "gold" everywhere. "All-round introduction" is for more powerful "development". These three sentences show the great contribution and endless creativity of the working people with progressive brushwork, which makes the negative result of the text more dignified and more painful. "Do your best in a good year. What will happen in a good year?" (Luo Yin, Xue) Yes, so what if there is a bumper harvest? "Farmers are still starving to death" not only makes the whole story continuous, but also highlights the problems. Hard-working farmers got a bumper harvest with their hands, but they were still empty-handed and starved to death. Poetry forces people to think with a heavy heart: Who created this human tragedy? The answer is clear. The poet put all this behind the scenes for readers to discover and think. Combining these two aspects, as Marx said: "Labor has produced amazing works (miracles) for the rich, but labor has produced extreme poverty for the workers. Labor built palaces, but caves for laborers. Labor produces beauty, but it produces deformities for workers. "
From the very beginning, "Hoe Wo" depicts that farmers are still working in the fields at noon in the scorching sun, and a drop of sweat is sprinkled on the scorching land. This is a supplement from "a millet" to "ten thousand kinds" and then to "four seas have no idle fields", which was watered by thousands of farmers in Qian Qian, Qian Qian with blood and sweat; This also captures the most typical image of the following "every grain is hard", which can be described as one tenth. Generally, it shows the hard life of farmers who don't avoid cold, summer, rain, snow, wind and frost all year round. It turns out that every grain of food is dripping with sweat, and everyone should know it except uncivilized children. But what is the reality? The poet didn't make it clear. However, if readers think about it a little, they will find the other side of reality: the "feast of human flesh", the sin of "countless grains in official warehouses are turned into soil" and the arrogance of "keeping dogs on board and eating meat". It can be seen that "who knows that every meal in the plate is hard" is not an empty sermon, nor is it a disease-free groan; It is similar to a profound motto, but it not only wins with its persuasiveness, but also reflects the poet's infinite resentment and sympathy for the trend in this deep sigh.
Of course, Li Shen didn't know the truth of class oppression and class exploitation, but from the slogan of "Heaven supplements the average" in the peasant uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty decades later, it is not difficult to see that these two poems objectively touched on the main contradiction of feudal society.