(Ancient pre-Qin songs)

Famous sentence: work at sunrise and rest at sunset.

Guide reading

This poem was first published by Huangfu Mi in the Western Jin Dynasty in the Emperor's Century, which is probably the earliest oral and written poem in China. It is said that in primitive society, an 80-year-old man sang a song while playing "knocking on the earth" on the roadside, so it was called "knocking on the earth song".

Original poem

Do it at sunrise,

Day after day.

Dig a well to drink water,

Farming and eating.

This kind of life is uncomfortable, and no one envies the power of the emperor.

To annotate ...

Hit the soil: an ancient game. Put a shoe-shaped piece of wood on the ground and throw it thirty or forty steps with another piece of wood. If you hit it, you win.

Translate poetry

When the sun comes out, go to farm.

Go home and rest when the sun goes down.

Dig a well and you can have water to drink.

If you plant crops, you won't go hungry.

What's wrong with such a day,

Who would envy the emperor's power!

Make an appreciative comment

China's earliest poems can be traced back to the Book of Songs from 1 1 century BC to the 6th century BC, but are there any poems earlier than the Book of Songs? What poems are there? It has been difficult for academic circles to have a definite theory. The Song of Breaking the Earth is a poem known to have been handed down earlier than the Book of Songs. For China's poetry history and social history, it is really precious.

This poem spread in primitive society about 4000 years ago. Legend has it that in the era of Emperor Yao, "the world was peaceful and the people had nothing to do", and the people lived a stable and comfortable life. An 80-year-old man sang this song while playing the game of "digging the soil" leisurely. The first four sentences of the song roughly describe the most primitive mode of production and lifestyle in rural areas at that time. In the first two sentences, the author described the living state of the elderly-working life in extremely simple language. Watch the sun work and rest every day, or work and rest. Life is simple and carefree. The last two sentences, "Digging wells to drink water, plowing fields to eat", describe the other side of the old people's living conditions-eating and drinking water. Digging wells and farming by yourself, although life is very tired and hard, is free and unconstrained. On the basis of the above description, the last sentence expresses the feeling of * * *: "The geographical advantage means nothing to me!" The emperor is so happy, who can aspire to the power of the emperor? What's the use of imperial power to me? This poem reflects the old man's broad-minded attitude towards life, people's pride and satisfaction with the natural and simple production and lifestyle at that time, farmers' full affirmation of their own strength and their bold contempt for imperial power.

This poem describes the living conditions of ancient people and shows people's simple materialistic thoughts and feelings in primitive society. It can be seen that Lao Tzu is "a small country with few people ... willing to eat, dress beautifully, be prepared for danger in times of peace and enjoy its customs." Neighboring countries look at each other, the voices of chickens and dogs hear each other, and the people die of old age. Simple language, concise narrative, combined with lyrical discussion. The first four sentences are compound sentence, and the language is full of potential. The style of the whole poem is extremely simple, without any rendering and carving, and the artistic image is vivid and vivid. The singer's carefree life state and self-satisfied expression are all very natural and true. Poetry four thousand years ago has such artistic expression that it is impressive.