Before dawn we gulp cold rice,
Oxen plod east through clay.
Cocks crow—lanterns slice
Night's veil off field-work's day.
Ploughshares clank, kites wheel low,
Bodies break like worn-out tools.
All harvests feed taxes—so
We sleep like drained dry pools.
Sons grow tall, but mark it well:
Their fate's the same old hell.
Original Poem
「田家三首 · 其一」
柳宗元
蓐食徇所务，驱牛向东阡。
鸡鸣村巷白，夜色归暮田。
札札耒耜声，飞飞来乌鸢。
竭兹筋力事，持用穷岁年。
尽输助徭役，聊就空自眠。
子孙日已长，世世还复然。
Interpretation
This series of poems was likely composed during Liu Zongyuan's exile in Yongzhou or Liuzhou. Following the failure of the Yongzhen Reforms, the poet—relegated to a minor official position in the remote south—became intimately acquainted with peasants, laborers, and the underprivileged. "Three Poems on Farming Households" emerges from his profound observations of rural life. The first poem traces a farmer's grueling daily cycle: predawn departure, sunset return, and the cruel reality of toil without harvest—exposing the intergenerational exploitation of peasants.
First Couplet: "蓐食徇所务，驱牛向东阡。"
Rù shí xùn suǒ wù, qū niú xiàng dōng qiān.
Gulping down a scant breakfast, he drives his ox eastward to the fields.
"Scant breakfast" suggests a meal barely eaten; "drives his ox" encapsulates the farmer's relentless routine, establishing the poem's urgent rhythm.
Second Couplet: "鸡鸣村巷白，夜色归暮田。"
Jī míng cūn xiàng bái, yèsè guī mù tián.
Roosters crow as lanes whiten with dawn; he trudges home through night-cloaked fields.
Bookending the day with light and darkness, "night-cloaked fields" underscores exhaustion, mirroring the labor's unbroken strain.
Third Couplet: "札札耒耜声，飞飞来乌鸢。"
Zhá zhá lěi sì shēng, fēi fēi lái wū yuān.
Thud-thud of plows churning soil; above, kites circle, eyeing their spoil.
Onomatopoeic "thud-thud" makes the plow's labor audible; "circling kites" portend disaster—both literal scavengers and metaphors for predatory exploitation.
Fourth Couplet: "竭兹筋力事，持用穷岁年。"
Jié zī jīn lì shì, chí yòng qióng suì nián.
He spends his body's last reserves just to scrape through one more year.
A grim summation: maximum effort yields mere survival, laying bare the peasant's Sisyphean struggle.
Fifth Couplet: "尽输助徭役，聊就空自眠。"
Jìn shū zhù yáo yì, liáo jiù kōng zì mián.
Harvests seized for taxes and corvée, he beds down empty—stripped to bone.
"Seized" delivers bureaucratic violence; "empty" resonates with hunger and despair, the bed a site of depletion, not rest.
Sixth Couplet: "子孙日已长，世世还复然。"
Zǐ sūn rì yǐ zhǎng, shì shì hái fù rán.
Sons grow tall, only to replay this fate—unchanged across generations.
The devastating coda: children inherit not land but bondage, condemning the poem's critique to timeless relevance.
Through a single agrarian day, Liu constructs an indictment of systemic oppression. Each couplet tightens the vise: predawn urgency, ceaseless labor, ominous skies, taxed bodies, and finally—generational entrapment. The poet's telescopic vision moves from soil to sky to sleeping mat, exposing how feudal machinery grinds human vitality into dust. Silent throughout, the farmer becomes everyman; his unbroken cycle, a protest carved in classical restraint.
Holistic Appreciation
This poem traces the daily labor cycle of peasants from "morning meal at dawn" to "returning at nightfall," naturally progressing from daybreak to darkness. Vivid details like "the clanking of plows" and "circling carrion kites" create strong realism and visual imagery while intensifying the atmosphere of hardship. The latter half transitions from realistic depiction to lyrical commentary, culminating in the concluding line "generation after generation repeats the same," evoking a profound sense of cyclical despair.
The poet adopts the perspective of common people, presenting reality objectively without forced sorrow or direct accusation. Through authentic details of daily life, he evokes readers' empathy. Without resorting to strident tones of criticism, every word carries profound sorrow and powerful resonance, embodying Liu Zongyuan's compassionate vision and social responsibility as an enlightened intellectual in feudal society.
Artistic Merits
- Realistic Narration Close to Life
The verses are simple and nearly colloquial, using everyday details of farmers' lives to reflect systemic oppression, giving the work strong realism and emotional impact. - Natural Rhythm, Clear Structure
The chronological progression from "beginning work" to "retiring to sleep" clearly outlines the complete cycle of farmers' laborious lives. - Blending Symbolism with Realism
"Circling carrion kites" serves both as realistic scenery and symbolic harbingers of disaster, creating multi-layered poetic meaning. - Intergenerational Perspective Deepens Theme
The concluding word "descendants" extends peasants' suffering into the future, forming a sense of historical destiny that highlights the poem's profound concern.
Insights
This poem profoundly reveals the tragic fate of ancient peasants who "labor without harvest," while reflecting the injustice and oppression of social systems. It enlightens us that literature should not merely depict beautiful scenery and personal emotions, but should serve as a voice that observes reality, reveals suffering, and conveys justice. Through these quiet and unadorned verses, Liu Zongyuan speaks for the neglected, allowing the hardships of "farm families" to be recorded, understood, and reflected upon. Today, we should still perceive the value of social conscience and humanitarian spirit in this poem.
About the Poet
Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元, 773 - 819), a native of Yuncheng in Shanxi province, was a pioneering advocate of the Classical Prose Movement during China's Tang Dynasty. Awarded the prestigious jinshi degree in 793 during the Zhenyuan era, this distinguished scholar-official revolutionized Chinese literature with his groundbreaking essays. His prose works, remarkable for their incisive vigor and crystalline purity, established the canonical model for landscape travel writing that would influence generations. As a poet, Liu mastered a distinctive style of luminous clarity and solitary grandeur, securing his place among the legendary "Eight Great Masters of Tang-Song Prose" - an honor reflecting his enduring impact on Chinese literary history.
