Tian Jia has few free months, and people are twice as busy in May.
at night, when the south wind comes, the wheat turns yellow.
the mother-in-law is full of food, and the child is full of pot pulp.
Xiang went with Xiang Tian, and Ding Zhuang was in Nangang.
it's full of rustic heat, and the back burns in the sun.
I don't know the heat, but I regret the long summer.
there is a poor woman again, holding her son by her side.
the right hand holds the ear, and the left arm hangs the basket.
it's sad to hear what they care about.
I've lost all my taxes, so I'll take this to satisfy my hunger.
what merits do I have today? I never worked in agriculture and mulberry.
Li Lu has three hundred stones, and Yan has surplus grain at the age of one.
I'm ashamed to read this, and I can't forget it every day.
translation:
cultivators seldom have free days, and every family is doubly busy in May.
A southerly wind blew last night, and the wheat was covered with Longgou and brown.
women are carrying rice with bamboo and millet, and children are carrying earthenware paste soup.
After going forward, we drove out to send noon to the field. The boys were working hard in Nangang.
my feet are steaming the rustic weather in summer, and my back is burning like a burning sun.
I don't feel hot when I'm exhausted, but I just want this summer to last forever.
There are even those poor women holding babies by their side.
My right hand went to pick up the lost ear of wheat, and my left arm was hung with a tattered flat basket.
Listening to them talking to each other in a few words, I can't help but feel infinite sadness:
"My family's harvest has been paid in full, and this leakage has suppressed the famine."
What merits do I have now? I have never been engaged in farming sericulture.
if you eat rice with nine grades, there will be a surplus at the adult price.
I'm ashamed to think of these things, and I can't forget them all day long.
Appreciation:
This poem is clear in narrative, natural in structure, clear in hierarchy and logical. At the beginning of the poem, explain the background first, and indicate that it is the busy farming season of wheat harvest in May. Then write that women lead their children to the fields to deliver food and water to young adults who are cutting wheat. Later, it describes young farmers cutting wheat with their heads down in Nangang wheat field, fumigating with summer heat at their feet and baking in the hot sun on their backs. They are exhausted and don't feel hot, but they just cherish the long days in summer and can do more work.
as of this writing, the hard work of this farmer has been strongly demonstrated. Then I described another sad scene: a poor woman with a child in her arms and a broken basket in her hand, picking up wheat next to the wheat harvester. Why do you want to pick up wheat? Because her family's fields have "lost all taxes"-they have been sold out to pay the heavy taxes in the palace. Now there is no field to plant and no Michael to harvest, so we have to rely on wheat to satisfy our hunger. These two scenarios are intertwined, with differences and connections: the former reveals the hardships of farmers, while the latter reveals the heavy taxes. Since heavy taxes have made poor women lose their fields, they will also make this family of farmers who are cutting wheat lose their fields. Today's wheat pickers are yesterday's wheat pickers; Today's wheat reapers may become tomorrow's wheat pickers. Strong irony, self-evident.
The poet was ashamed of the pain of the peasant's life and associated it with the comfort of his own life, and he couldn't be calm for a long time. This lyric text is the essence of the whole poem. It is the product of the author's touching feelings and shows the poet's deep sympathy for the working people. Bai Juyi wrote satirical poems with the purpose of "only singing makes people sick, and I hope that the emperor will know." In this poem, he made a sharp contrast between the peasants and himself as a court official with his own personal feelings, that is, he hoped that the "son of heaven" would have a feeling, and his technique was clever and euphemistic, which could be described as well-intentioned.
Bai Juyi is an artistic master who is best at writing narrative poems. His narrative poems can fully express human feelings and things, and write the events described in them in a tortuous and detailed way. Moreover, his narrative poems always contain the revelation of the soul, so they always contain feelings. Although he doesn't write much in "Watching Wheat Harvesting", he vividly describes the hard-working and painful life scenes of wheat reapers and gleaners in summer harvest. Not only wrote things, but also wrote hearts, including the author's own heart and the hearts of working people.
The poet's heartstrings were obviously shaken and trembled by the tragic sight he heard and witnessed, so he picked up his pen to tell the truth, so between the lines, he was full of sympathy and pity for the workers. Poems such as "It's full of rustic heat, and my back is burning with the sun" and "I lost all my taxes on my family's land, so I can take this to feed my hunger" contain the author's sense of sympathy and pity! Therefore, in the narrative, this poem "Watching the Wheat" has the infiltration of the author's feelings and the beating of his heart, and the author's heart is integrated with what he tells.
It is commendable that the author can truly write about the working people's heart, especially describe the abnormal psychology of the working people in a certain situation, and profoundly reveal the theme of the poem. In The Charcoal Man, "Poor man's clothes are simple, but he is worried about charcoal and wishes the weather to be cold", which describes the abnormal psychology of the old man who sells charcoal because he is forced by food and clothing. "I don't know the heat when I'm exhausted, but I regret the long summer" in "Watching Mowing Wheat" is also a kind of abnormal psychology. This kind of description depicts the hearts of working people in detail and goes deep into the details.
The perfect unity of writing things and writing hearts in poetry is more shocking than the general unity of narration and lyricism. Bai Juyi is also an expert in using contrast techniques. In his poetry creation, he not only contrasted the poverty and kindness of the working people with the luxury and tyranny of the landlord class, but also contrasted his own comfort with the poverty of the working people.
after this poem describes the toil and pain of farmers in the hot summer, the poet also thinks of himself, feeling that he has no "merit" and "doesn't work for farmers and mulberry", but he gets a salary of "three hundred stones" and still has "surplus food" at the end of the year, so he "feels ashamed of this and can't forget it every day". It is very rare for poets to take the initiative to compare with farmers at that time. Such a contrast is really novel, accurate, commendable and thought-provoking, thus showing the ideological height of this poem.