论北宋悯农诗

On the Poems Pitying Peasants in the Northern Song Dynasty

北宋悯农诗歌远承《诗经》、汉乐府民歌"饥者歌其食,劳者歌其事"的现实主义创作传统,近师杜甫"三吏"、"三别"以及白居易新乐府运动"唯歌生民病"的写实精神,通过多重对比手法,全方位地展现了北宋土地、赋税、劳役等制度重压下广大农民的悲惨命运,揭露了贫富极度悬殊、阶级尖锐矛盾的社会现状,表达了士大夫文人的悲悯、痛恨、愧疚等等复杂感情。尤其在新旧党争中,更加体现出有识之士关心民瘼、改革弊政的胆识和勇气。受到宋朝社会文化的影响,北宋悯农诗也呈现出有别于前代诗歌的议论化、散文化的创作倾向,彰显了宋诗特有的艺术风貌。

The poems pitying peasants in the Northern Song Dynasty inherited the realistic tradition of peotic creation orginating in Shijing 诗经( aka the Book of Songs) and the folk songs of yuefu 乐府( literally music bureau) in the Han Dynasty,whose theme is captured by the saying"The hungry sing for food;the laborers sing for work. "The later examples they followed are the realistic spirit embodied by Du Fu’s "sanli"三吏( literally three officials) and "sanbie"三别( literally three farewells)and Bai Juyi’s new yuefu movement advocating "Singing to make known people’s sufferings. "By means of multiple comparative techniques,the poems of this type fully display the miserable fate of the peasants under the heavy pressure of the land,tax and labor systems in the Northern Song Dynasty,expose the social reality characterized by the extreme disparity between rich and poor and the sharp class conflicts,and express such complex feelings as compassion,hatred,and guilt held by the intellectuals at that time. Especially in the struggle between the old and the new,the poems embody the wise intellectuals’ courage to care about people’s misfortune and their determination to reform the bad governance system. Influenced by the social culture of the Song Dynasty,the poems pitying peasants also show some stylistic features of argumentative prose,and are thus different from their predecessors.This constitutes the unique artistic style of the poetry in the Song Dynasty.