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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

观刈麦

Watching the Wheat Reaping

白居易

Bai Juyi

田园pastoral 抒情lyric

田家少闲月，五月人倍忙。
夜来南风起，小麦覆陇黄。
妇姑荷簟食，童稚携壶浆。
相随饷田去，丁壮在南冈。
足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光。
力尽不知热，但惜夏日长。
复有贫妇人，抱子在其傍。
右手秉遗穗，左臂悬敝筐。
听其相顾言，闻者为悲伤。
家田输税尽，拾此充饥肠。
今我何功德，曾不事农桑。
吏禄三百石，岁晏有余粮。
念此私自愧，尽日不能忘。

Farmers have few idle months; in the fifth month their toil redoubles. At night the south wind rises; wheat covers the ridges, golden.
Wives and mothers bear bamboo baskets of food; children carry pots of drink. They follow one another to bring meals to the fields; the strong men are on the southern slope.
Feet steamed by the heat of the earthen soil; backs scorched by the blazing sky-light. Strength spent, they know not the heat—only treasuring the long summer day.
Again there is a poor woman, holding her child at her side. In her right hand she gathers the leftover ears; on her left arm hangs a ragged basket.
Hearing them speak to each other, the listener is moved to sorrow. Her family fields all given to taxes, she gathers this to fill her hungry belly.
What virtue or merit have I now, who never tilled or raised silk? Three hundred piculs of official salary—at year's end I have grain to spare.
Thinking of this, I am privately ashamed; all day I cannot forget.

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Meaning

The poet depicts the busy wheat harvest of a Tang farming family alongside a poor widow gleaning leftover ears, exposing the crushing burden of taxes on the people. He then turns to self-reproach, contrasting his own unearned official salary with the farmers' misery. The poem is a landmark of Bai Juyi's realist, satirical poetry rooted in compassion for the common folk.

农家很少有清闲的月份，五月到来人们格外繁忙。夜里南风吹起，小麦覆盖田垄一片金黄。妇女们挑着竹篮盛的食物，孩子们提着壶里的浆水。相随着去田里送饭，壮劳力都在南边的山冈上。双脚被暑热的土气蒸烤，脊背被炎炎的天光灼晒。力气耗尽了也不觉得热，只因为珍惜夏日昼长。又有一位贫穷的妇人，抱着孩子站在田旁。右手捡拾遗留的麦穗，左臂挎着破旧的竹筐。听她相互倾诉的话语，听到的人都为她悲伤。家里的田地为缴税已经输尽，只好拾穗来充饥肠。如今我有什么功德，竟不曾从事农桑。做官俸禄三百石，年终还有多余的粮。想到这些我暗自惭愧，整日里都不能忘。

Appreciation

The poem's chief art lies in plain description (baimiao) joined with sharp contrast: the bustling reaping against the widow's gleaning, the farmers' toil against the poet's ease. Its structure moves from scene to toil to grief to self-reflection, deepening layer by layer. The language is as plain as everyday speech, embodying Bai Juyi's ideal that even an old woman can understand his verse.

【白话串讲】白居易写《观刈麦》：“田家少闲月，五月人倍忙”。“足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光。力尽不知热，但惜夏日长”——“复有贫妇人，抱子在其傍”——“家田输税尽，拾此充饥肠”——“今我何功德，曾不事农桑”——他看到农民的苦，感到惭愧。【意象与手法】此诗以白描为主，善用对比：农忙景象与贫妇拾穗相对照，农民的辛劳与诗人的安逸相对照。叙事、写景、议论相结合，由旁观到自省，层层深入，是白居易讽喻诗的代表作。【情感与主旨】全诗通过目睹农民麦收的辛劳与贫妇拾穗的惨状，抒发对劳动人民的深切同情，并以自省的方式批判了不劳而获的寄生生活，体现了白居易关心民瘼、为民请命的现实主义精神。【名句点睛】常考『足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光』的白描功力，以及『今我何功德，曾不事农桑』的自省精神。

Background

Guan Yimai was written in 807 (the second year of Yuanhe) when Bai Juyi served as magistrate of Zhouzhi; a note under the title says he was then the Zhouzhi county warden. Born into a minor official's family, Bai knew hardship early and held the ideal of 'writing for the times, singing for affairs,' stressing that poetry must reflect reality and satirize politics. By the Yuanhe years the Two-Tax system had long been in force and peasants were heavily burdened, their lands lost to taxes and rapacious clerks. Witnessing the May harvest and a widow gleaning after her fields were seized, Bai was moved to write this poem fusing narration, description, lyric, and argument. It is both his personal witness and a typical snapshot of farmers' lives in the Yuanhe era, the starting point of his realist path.

《观刈麦》作于唐宪宗元和二年（807年），白居易时任盩厔县尉。这是白居易早期讽喻诗的代表作，题下原有自注：时为盩厔县尉。白居易出身于小官僚家庭，早年历经战乱与贫困，对民间疾苦有切身的体会。入仕后，他秉持兼济天下的理想，主张文章合为时而著，歌诗合为事而作，强调诗歌要反映现实、讽喻时政。元和初年，两税法实行已久，农民负担沉重，既要缴纳田赋，又受吏胥盘剥，破产流亡者比比皆是。白居易在盩厔任上，亲见五月麦收时节农民的辛劳，又目睹贫妇因输税而破产、抱子拾穗的惨状，深感触动，遂作此诗。此诗将叙事、描写、抒情、议论融为一体，既写出农民劳动的艰辛，又揭露了赋税制度对农民的残酷压榨，更以自身的反省升华了主题，是白居易现实主义诗歌道路的起点。此诗所写，不仅是白居易一人的所见所感，更是元和年间广大农民的生存缩影，具有高度的典型意义。

Art

The poem's greatest artistic feature is the deft union of plain description and contrast. It unfolds as narrative: first the busy season, then the toil, then the widow's gleaning, then the poet's shame—strict and clear. The opening sets the season plainly; 'wheat covers the ridges, golden' paints a vivid scene whose harvest joy already hints at labor. 'Feet steamed, backs scorched' uses antithesis and the verbs steam and scorch to make the heat visible; 'strength spent, yet not the heat' captures the farmers' anxious urgency. The widow's close-up—right hand the ears, left arm the basket—is a touching detail; the closing self-reproach elevates the theme. The plain, homely language embodies Bai's 'real, popular, thorough' style.

此诗在艺术上的最大特色是白描与对比的巧妙结合。全诗以叙事为主线，层层展开：先写农忙景象，次写劳动之辛，再写贫妇拾穗之惨，后写诗人自省之愧，结构严谨，条理分明。开篇田家少闲月，五月人倍忙，以简洁的叙述点出时令与农忙，夜来南风起，小麦覆陇黄则写景如画，南风、麦浪，丰收在望的喜悦中已暗含农人辛劳的伏笔。足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光，以对偶句极写劳动之苦，蒸与灼两个动词，把暑气与天光的酷烈写得如在眼前；力尽不知热，但惜夏日长，更以反常的心理描写，把农民抢收时节的急切与无奈刻画得入木三分。复有贫妇人一段，由整体转入个别，右手秉遗穗，左臂悬敝筐的细节描写，如特写镜头，触目惊心。结尾今我何功德一段，由人及己，自惭自愧，使诗的思想境界得到升华。全诗语言平易，如话家常，正是白居易尚实、尚俗、务尽的诗风体现。

Allusions

Though mainly plain description, the poem's imagery is deep. 'Farmers have few idle months' descends from the Shi Jing 'July' farm tradition. 'Wheat covers the ridges' uses long (ridge) to signal harvest, yet under the abundance lies the farmer's ruin—an irony. 'Feet steamed, backs scorched' echoes Shi Jing's summer toil and old yuefu pictures of farmers in heat. The gleaning widow reaches back to Shi Jing 'Great Field': 'where there are ungotten shoots… the widow's benefit'—Bai adapts this ancient image with the new background of tax ruin, stamping the old scene with his age. 'Three hundred piculs' uses the Han official salary to contrast with the farmer's year. The allusions are few but each apt, serving the theme.

此诗虽以白描为主，但意象的运用仍有深意。田家少闲月脱胎于《诗经·豳风·七月》的农事传统，七月一诗写农夫终岁勤劳，与此诗异曲同工。小麦覆陇黄的陇即田垄，这一意象让人联想到丰收，然而丰收之下却是农民的破产，形成反讽。足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光，以蒸灼二字写酷热，暗合《诗经》中暑月劳作的描写，也让人想起古乐府中农夫冒暑耕作的图景。贫妇拾穗的意象，可远溯《诗经·小雅·大田》彼有不获稚，此有不敛穧，彼有遗秉，此有滞穗，伊寡妇之利，写丰收后寡妇拾穗以自活，白居易化用这一古老意象，而添上家田输税尽的新背景，使古老的拾穗图景打上了时代的烙印。吏禄三百石，用汉代官俸制度，暗指自己的俸禄，与农民的一年辛苦相对照。全诗用典不多，但每处都贴切自然，为表达主题服务。此外，力尽不知热，但惜夏日长，暗合《诗经》七月流火，九月授衣中农人对节令的敏感，把农事诗的古老传统与中唐的现实关怀融为一体。

Commentary

Guan Yimai is the foundational work of Bai Juyi's satirical poetry and the practice of his realist theory. Its worth is first in truth: the poet writes without ornament the busy harvest, the toil, the widow's plight; 'strength spent, yet not the heat' writes the near-numb endurance of the pressured farmer, heartbreaking. Second is the profound self-reflection: 'what virtue have I' puts the poet himself in the scale, contrasting his salary with the farmer's tax ruin—more powerful than mere pity, showing his upright character. Third is its pioneering role: with the Qinzhong Songs and New Yuefu it set the tone for later masterpieces like The Old Charcoal Seller. Qing critics said Bai's words are shallow yet thought deep; this poem is the model. It inherits Du Fu's 'Three Officials and Three Partings' and opens the New Yuefu, occupying an important place in poetic history.

《观刈麦》是白居易讽喻诗的开山之作，也是其现实主义诗论的实践。此诗的价值首先在于真实：诗人以亲历者的眼光，不加粉饰地写出五月麦收的繁忙、劳动之苦与贫妇之惨，力尽不知热，但惜夏日长两句，把农民在生存压力下近乎麻木的坚韧写得令人心酸。其次在于深刻的自省精神：今我何功德，曾不事农桑，诗人没有站在高处怜悯，而是把自己也放进对照之中，以吏禄三百石与农民输税尽相对，这种自愧自惭的态度，比单纯的同情更有力量，也体现了白居易清廉自守的品格。再次在于开创意义：此诗与《秦中吟》《新乐府》一脉相承，为后来的卖炭翁、杜陵叟等名篇奠定了基调。清人评白诗言浅而思深，意微而词显，此诗正是典范。它上承杜甫三吏三别的写实传统，下启新乐府运动的先声，在中国诗歌史上占有重要地位。此诗语言之平易，正为讽喻之深切服务，读者于浅语之中，自能体会诗人那份推己及人的仁者之心。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient verse (wugu)五言古诗

Rhyme The poem rhymes throughout in the open, bright yang rhyme (lower-level seventh yang of the Ping-shui system): mang, huang, gang, guang, chang, kuang, chang, liang, wang—one rhyme carried to the end, open and resonant, suited to narrative exposition.全诗押平声阳韵，忙、黄、冈、光、长、筐、肠、粮、忘等韵脚皆属平水韵下平七阳，一韵到底，音调开阔响亮，宜于铺陈叙事。

Tone pattern Composed in five-character lines with a rhythm mainly of 2-2-1 and 2-1-2; the parallel couplets add formal regularity. It reads calm and unhurried, matching the relaxed narrative.全诗为五言句式，节奏以二二一、二一二为主，如田家少闲月、夜来南风起，读来平稳舒缓，与叙事的从容相称；足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光等对偶句，则增加了节奏的整饬感。

Reading note Guan Yimai is a five-character ancient verse of twenty-six lines, one rhyme throughout, in the open yang rhyme. The yang rhyme is an open, resounding rhyme whose sound is broad and drawn-out, fitting to express the expanse of the fields and the composure of the narrative. In tonal pattern it is free of the constraints of regulated verse, with lines mostly of five characters, interspersed with parallel couplets such as 'wives bear baskets, children carry pots' and 'right hand gathers ears, left arm hangs basket,' which enhance the formal beauty of the language and introduce variation within the steady rhythm. Bai Juyi held that poetry should be easy to read aloud; this poem's language is plain and its sound smooth, pleasant to recite. Notably, the poem is built on narrative, and the rhyme words emerge naturally as the story advances, with none of the fault of forcing a rhyme; the rhyme words mang, huang, gang, guang, chang, kuang, chang, liang, wang are all common characters, simple yet not vulgar, embodying Bai Juyi's style that 'even an old woman can understand.'《观刈麦》为五言古诗，共二十六句，一韵到底，押平声阳韵。阳韵为开口洪亮之韵，声音开阔悠长，正宜表现田野的辽阔与叙事的从容。全诗在平仄上不受近体约束，句式自由，以五言为主，间以对偶，如妇姑荷簟食，童稚携壶浆、右手秉遗穗，左臂悬敝筐，这些对句不仅增强了语言的形式美，也使叙事节奏在平稳中见变化。白居易主张诗歌要易于诵读，此诗语言平易，音韵流畅，读来朗朗上口。值得一提的是，全诗以叙事为骨，韵脚随叙事推进自然而出，毫无为押韵而凑韵之弊，忙、黄、冈、光、长、筐、肠、粮、忘等韵字皆为常用字，浅显而不俗，正是白居易老妪能解诗风的体现。

Line by line

足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光。力尽不知热，但惜夏日长。

Feet steamed by the heat of the earthen soil, backs scorched by the blazing sky; strength spent, they know not the heat, only treasuring the long summer day.

双脚被暑热的土气蒸烤，脊背被炎炎的天光灼晒。力气耗尽了也不觉得热，只因为珍惜夏日昼长。

Feet steamed by the hot earth, backs scorched by the blazing sky; strength spent, they do not feel the heat, only treasuring the long summer light.

这四句是写农民割麦之辛最传神的一笔。前两句从足与背两个角度，以蒸与灼两个动词，极写暑气与天光的酷烈：暑气自地面蒸腾而上，灼烧双足；天光自头顶倾泻而下，炙烤脊背，一上一下，把农民夹在天地两重酷热之间，写得无处可逃。后两句笔锋一转，写农民的心理：力尽不知热，不是真的不热，而是抢收的紧迫压过了对热的感受；但惜夏日长，更见辛酸——夏日越长，麦收的时间越充裕，农民不是嫌日长难熬，反而珍惜日长，因为多一分白天就多收一分麦。这种反常的心理，把农民在生存压力下的坚韧与无奈写得入木三分，是白描中的神来之笔，也为此后贫妇的出场蓄足了势。

These four lines are the most vivid stroke of the reapers' toil. The first pair, from feet and back, uses 'steam' and 'scorch' to write the cruel heat: steam rising from the ground burning the feet, blazing light from the sky scorching the back, above and below, the farmer caught between two fires, nowhere to flee. The next pair turns to psychology: 'strength spent, they do not feel the heat' is not true numbness but the urgency of the harvest overcoming the feeling of heat; 'only treasuring the long summer light' is the bitterest — the longer the summer day, the more time to harvest. They do not find the day long and hard, but treasure it, for an extra hour of light means an extra row of wheat. This inverted psychology writes the farmers' endurance and helplessness under the pressure of survival.

复有贫妇人，抱子在其傍。右手秉遗穗，左臂悬敝筐。

There is again a poor woman, holding her child at her side, gathering leftover ears in her right hand, a ragged basket hanging on her left arm.

又有一位贫穷的妇人，抱着孩子站在田旁。右手捡拾遗留的麦穗，左臂挎着破旧的竹筐。

There is a poor woman, a child at her side; her right hand gathers the fallen ears, her left arm carries a broken basket.

这四句由割麦的壮劳力转入拾穗的贫妇，是全诗的转折与深化。复有一字，轻轻带出另一个更悲惨的画面。抱子在其傍，写贫妇怀中还抱着孩子，劳作与哺乳两难，其困顿可见一斑。右手秉遗穗，左臂悬敝筐，以两个对偶的动作写拾穗：右手捡拾，左臂挎筐，敝字点出筐之破旧，遗穗更是别人收割后遗留的零星麦穗，足以想见其生活的窘迫。诗人不加一句议论，纯以白描画出这一幅拾穗图，却让人感到比烈日割麦更深的悲凉：壮丁尚有麦可割，贫妇却只能捡拾遗穗，贫富的差距、生活的艰难，尽在不言之中。这段描写为下文听其相顾言的诉苦作了铺垫，也为诗人最后的自省提供了契机。

These four lines turn from the strong reapers to the gleaning woman, the poem's turn and deepening. The words 'there is' lightly bring in another, still more wretched picture. 'A child at her side' — the poor woman holds a baby, labor and nursing impossible together, her plight evident. 'Her right hand gathers the fallen ears, her left arm carries a broken basket' — two paired actions, the word 'broken' naming the basket's raggedness, the 'fallen ears' the sparse remnants after others have cut. The poet adds no word of comment, drawing the gleaning scene in plain description, yet it feels sadder than the reaping in the sun: the strong have wheat to cut, the woman only the remnants; the gap of wealth and the hardness of life are all unspoken.

今我何功德，曾不事农桑。吏禄三百石，岁晏有余粮。

What virtue have I now, who never tilled or raised silk? Three hundred piculs of official pay, and at year's end grain to spare.

如今我有什么功德，竟不曾从事农桑。做官俸禄三百石，年终还有多余的粮。

What merit have I, that I never worked the fields or the silk? A hundred bushels of official grain, surplus at the year's end.

这四句是全诗由叙事转向议论、由同情转向自省的枢纽。诗人听罢贫妇的诉说，没有停留在怜悯，而是反躬自问：我有什么功德，竟不曾种田养蚕？做官却享有三百石的俸禄，年终还有余粮。何功德的反问，是全诗思想升华的关键：诗人把自己与农民、贫妇放在同一杆秤上衡量，发现自己不事农桑而坐享俸禄，反而比农民过得宽裕，这种反差让他无法心安。吏禄三百石，岁晏有余粮，以具体的数字写出自己的安逸，与家田输税尽，拾此充饥肠形成鲜明的对照，批判的锋芒直指不合理的现实。这一自省使全诗从对农民的同情，上升到对自身处境的拷问，体现了白居易兼济天下的情怀，也成就了此诗高于一般悯农诗的思想境界。

These four lines are the pivot from narrative to argument, from pity to self-examination. Hearing the woman's tale, the poet does not stop at pity but asks himself: what merit have I, that I never tilled or tended silk? An official's hundred bushels, surplus at year's end. The self-question 'what merit' is the key of the poem's elevation: he weighs himself on the same scale as the farmers and the poor woman, and finds that, never working the fields, he yet lives better than they. 'A hundred bushels, surplus at year's end' writes his own ease in concrete numbers, set sharply against 'fields gone to taxes, gleaned to still hunger'. This self-examination lifts the poem from pity for the people to an interrogation of his own place, showing Bai Juyi's heart for the world and raising the poem above ordinary verse on the farmers' lot.

Study

Word focus

覆 In 'wheat covers the ridges, golden,' the verb fu (cover) depicts the wheat waves spreading over the field ridges—a vivid stroke capturing the abundance and density of the harvest. 小麦覆陇黄之覆字，写麦浪覆盖田垄之状，是全诗写景的传神之笔。覆有覆盖、笼罩之意，一个覆字，写出小麦之盛、之密，仿佛把整条田垄都遮盖起来，丰收的景象如在眼前。与黄字相连，覆陇黄三字色彩鲜明，金黄的麦浪铺满田野，视觉冲击力极强。其妙有三：一是以动写静，麦浪本静，覆字却让人联想到麦穗低垂、层层叠叠的动态；二是为后文的辛劳作铺垫，麦子越盛，收割越忙，覆陇黄的丰收正是五月人倍忙的原因；三是形成反衬，田里麦浪金黄，而拾穗的贫妇只能捡拾遗穗，丰收与贫困的对照由此展开。一个覆字，既写景又写情，是白诗中炼字的典范。

蒸 In 'feet steamed by the heat of the earthen soil,' zheng (steam) renders the rising heat from the sun-baked ground, as if the earth were a steamer roasting the farmer's feet—one of the poem's strongest verbs for summer heat. 足蒸暑土气之蒸字，写暑气蒸腾之状，与下句的灼字相对，是全诗写酷热最有力的动词。蒸本指以热气蒸煮，这里用来写暑气从被烈日晒透的土地上蒸腾而起，仿佛大地是一只蒸笼，灼烤着农人的双脚。其妙有二：一是化静为动，暑气本无形，蒸字却让它有了蒸腾上涌的动感，写得可感可触；二是暗示持续的时间，蒸是缓慢而持久的过程，暗示农民在田里已劳作良久，双脚一直被蒸烤。与背灼炎天光的灼字配合，一蒸一灼，一足一背，一自下而上、一自上而下，把农民夹在天地两重酷热中的处境写得无处遁形。白居易炼字不尚奇僻，而贵在准确传神，蒸字正是以平易之字写出酷烈之境的范例。

惜 In 'only treasuring the long summer day,' xi (treasure/value) is the key to the poem's psychological portrait: the farmers do not revel in the heat but value the long daylight because more daylight means more wheat reaped, revealing their stoic endurance under survival pressure. 但惜夏日长之惜字，是全诗心理描写的点睛之笔。惜本有爱惜、珍惜之意，这里写农民珍惜夏日昼长，表面看不合常理——夏日酷热，昼长难熬，农人却惜其长。然而正是这个反常的惜字，写尽了农民的心酸：他们不是不觉得热、不觉得累，而是抢收时节一寸光阴一寸金，夏天白天越长，能收割的时间就越多，所以力尽不知热，但惜夏日长。惜字与不知热相呼应，揭示出农民在生存压力下近乎本能的坚韧：他们的身体已被酷热摧残到麻木，心里却只惦记着农时。这个惜字，看似平淡，实则字字含泪，是白居易对农民心理最深刻的体察，也是此诗最动人的细节之一。

The Old Charcoal Seller and Watching the Wheat Reaping are both representative satirical poems by Bai Juyi and practice of the New Yuefu movement. The Old Charcoal Seller tells of an old man who toils to burn charcoal only to have it seized by palace eunuchs, exposing the evil of the palace-market system; Watching the Wheat Reaping depicts the hardship of reaping and the ruin of a poor woman bereft by taxes, exposing the crushing weight of the tax system. Both take laborers at the bottom as protagonists and depict their toil in plain description: 'hews fuel and burns charcoal south of the mountains, face gray with dust and fire' parallels 'feet steamed by earthen heat, back scorched by sky-light.' The difference: The Old Charcoal Seller concentrates its plot with sharp conflict, the eunuchs' violence against the old man's helplessness forming a stark contrast; Watching the Wheat Reaping combines narration and argument, turning from story to self-reflection, its thought more inward. Read together, the two show the deepening of Bai Juyi's satirical poetry from exposing external oppression to interrogating his own situation.

《卖炭翁》与《观刈麦》同为白居易讽喻诗的代表作，都是新乐府运动的实践。《卖炭翁》写卖炭老翁辛苦烧炭却被宫使强夺的悲剧，揭露的是宫市制度的罪恶；《观刈麦》写农民割麦之辛与贫妇输税破产之惨，揭露的是赋税制度的苛重。两诗都以底层劳动者为主人公，都以白描写其辛劳：卖炭翁伐薪烧炭南山中，满面尘灰烟火色，与足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光异曲同工。差异在于：《卖炭翁》情节集中，冲突尖锐，宫使的强横与老翁的无助形成强烈对照；《观刈麦》则叙议结合，由叙事转入自省，思想更趋内敛。两诗合观，可见白居易讽喻诗从揭露外部压迫到拷问自身处境的深化过程。

石壕吏 The Pressgang at Shihao 杜甫 · 同为写民生疾苦的现实主义诗篇 Both are realist poems on the sufferings of the people.

Du Fu's The Pressgang at Shihao and Bai Juyi's Watching the Wheat Reaping are both realist masterpieces reflecting the people's misery. Du's poem writes of an old woman's family pressed into service during the An-Lushan rebellion; Bai's writes of mid-Tang farmers ruined by taxes—both are the blood-and-tears history of common people under war and harsh rule. Their common points: both choose typifying scenes, both narrate in plain language, both appear as the poet as eyewitness. The difference: Du, writing the pressgang, highlights the sergeant's ferocity and the old woman's grief, with intense conflict that takes one's breath away; Bai, writing the wheat reaping, keeps a relatively relaxed touch, moving from the busy season and the poor woman to self-reflection, layer by layer. Du's poem is like a deep sigh, Bai's like a clear admonition. Bai regarded himself as Du Fu's heir; his satirical poetry continues the spirit of the 'Three Officials and Three Partings,' and the self-questioning 'what virtue have I' in Watching the Wheat Reaping adds one more layer of rational scrutiny beyond Du's poem.

杜甫《石壕吏》与白居易《观刈麦》都是反映民生疾苦的现实主义名篇。杜诗写安史之乱中老妇一家被强征服役的惨剧，白诗写中唐农民输税破产的悲辛，都是战争与苛政下底层人民的血泪史。两诗的相同处在于：都选取了具有典型意义的场景，都以平实的语言叙述，都以诗人目击者的身份出现。差异在于：杜甫写石壕吏，突出吏的凶暴与老妇的悲苦，冲突激烈，让人透不过气；白居易写观刈麦，则笔触相对舒缓，由农忙、贫妇写到自省，层层深入。杜诗如深沉的悲叹，白诗如清醒的诤言。白居易自许为杜甫的继承者，其讽喻诗正是三吏三别精神的延续，而观刈麦中今我何功德的自我反省，则比杜诗更多一层理性的审视。

燕歌行 Song of Yan 高适 · 同为唐代现实主义长诗，一写边塞一写田园 Both are Tang realist long poems—one on the frontier, one on the farmland.

Gao Shi's Song of Yan and Bai Juyi's Watching the Wheat Reaping are both Tang narrative long poems, both renowned for deep social concern, but their subjects differ—frontier versus farmland. Song of Yan writes of the suffering of garrison life, 'soldiers half dead before the army, while beauties sing behind the tent,' using contrast to expose the unequal joys and sorrows in the army; Watching the Wheat Reaping writes of the toil of farming, 'feet steamed by earthen heat, back scorched by sky-light,' depicting the farmer's labor in plain description, and contrasts 'three hundred piculs of pay' with the poor woman's 'filling her hungry belly,' criticizing unearned ease. Both excel at using contrast to deepen theme and show deep sympathy for the common people. The difference: Gao Shi's sympathy carries a generous, tragic frontier spirit, while Bai Juyi's carries a clear, self-reflective realist spirit; Song of Yan closes with lyric reflection, Watching the Wheat Reaping with self-reproach. Read together, the two show two different faces of Tang poets' concern for the people.

高适《燕歌行》与白居易《观刈麦》都是唐代叙事性长篇，都以深刻的社会关怀著称，但题材一在边塞、一在田园。燕歌行写征戍之苦，战士军前半死生，美人帐下犹歌舞，以对比揭露军中苦乐不均；观刈麦写农耕之辛，足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光，以白描写出农人劳作之苦，又以吏禄三百石与贫妇充饥肠相对，批判不劳而获。两诗都善于运用对比来深化主题，都体现着诗人对底层人民的深切同情。差异在于：高适笔下的同情中带着慷慨悲壮的边塞气概，白居易笔下的同情中带着清醒自省的现实精神；燕歌行以抒情议论收束，观刈麦以自惭自愧作结。两诗并读，可见唐代诗人关怀民瘼的两种不同风貌。

观刈麦