Tang poem · five-character quatrain唐诗 · 五言绝句

mǐn悯nóng农·qí其èr二

lǐ李shēn绅Li Shen · Tang唐

Pity the Farmers, No. 2

chú锄hé禾rì日dāng当wǔ午

hàn汗dī滴hé禾xià下tǔ土

shuí谁zhī知pán盘zhōng中cān餐

lì粒lì粒jiē皆xīn辛kǔ苦

Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。

The corpus titles it "Two Poems in the Old Style, No. 2". Textbooks and common editions today title it "Pity the Farmers". The lines are the same.

诗集里题目作《古风二首》其二，现在课本和通行本题作《悯农》。诗句相同。

Line by line逐句翻译

锄禾日当午Under the blazing noon sun, the farmer is hoeing the crops.中午太阳火辣辣的，农民还在给禾苗锄草，
汗滴禾下土His sweat drips, drop by drop, into the soil beneath the plants.汗水一滴一滴落在禾苗下的泥土里。
谁知盘中餐Who knows that of the food on our plates,有谁知道盘子里的饭菜，
粒粒皆辛苦every single grain came from such hard work?每一粒都是农民辛辛苦苦换来的？

Words字词注释

锄chú: chú: to loosen the soil and pull weeds with a hoe.锄：用锄头松土、除草。
禾hé: hé: crops, here the young plants in the field.禾：庄稼，这里指地里的禾苗。
日当午rì dāng wǔ: rì dāng wǔ: the sun is straight overhead, the hottest time at noon. Dāng means right at.日当午：太阳正在头顶，是中午最热的时候。当，正在。
谁知shuí zhī: shuí zhī: who knows?谁知：有谁知道。
盘中餐pán zhōng cān: pán zhōng cān: the food on the plate.盘中餐：盘子里的饭菜。
皆jiē: jiē: all.皆：都。
辛苦xīn kǔ: xīn kǔ: hard work, much effort.辛苦：劳累，付出了很多力气。

Background创作背景

Li Shen wrote two poems called "Pity the Farmers", and this is the second. To pity here means to feel for someone's hardship. The two poems are usually thought to be from Li Shen's youth. In the Tang dynasty, farming was very hard work, and farmers also had to pay heavy taxes. Li Shen saw this and wrote these poems. This one shows how hard farmers work and asks people to value their food.

李绅写过两首《悯农》，这是第二首。“悯”是同情、怜惜的意思，“悯农”就是同情农民。一般认为这两首诗是李绅年轻时写的。唐朝时农民种地非常辛苦，还要交很重的租税。李绅看到这些，写下了这两首诗。这首诗写农民种地的辛苦，劝人珍惜粮食。

The poet作者

Li Shen (772–846) was a Tang poet who later became chief minister. He was close to Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, and with them he called for "new folk-style" poems about the lives of ordinary people. Most of his poems are not well known today, but almost everyone in China can recite these two "Pity the Farmers" poems.

李绅（772—846），唐代诗人，后来做到宰相。他和元稹、白居易交往很深，一起提倡写反映百姓生活的“新乐府”诗。他的诗今天大多不太出名，但这两首《悯农》几乎人人会背。

The mood意境

This poem is very simple, and very powerful. The first two lines are a picture. Under the huge noon sun, a farmer bends over the field pulling weeds, and his sweat falls drop by drop. As you read, you can almost feel the heat. The last two lines turn the picture into a question. When we eat, who thinks of the sweat behind every grain of rice? The doubled word "every grain, every grain" makes us think of the countless grains in a bowl, each one hard to grow. That is why, for over a thousand years, this poem has been used to teach children to value their food and not waste it.

这首诗非常简单，却非常有力量。前两句是一幅画：正午的大太阳下，农民弯着腰在地里锄草，汗珠一滴一滴往下掉。读的时候，好像能感到那种热。后两句由画面转成一个问题：我们吃饭的时候，有谁想到每一粒米背后的汗水呢？“粒粒”两个字重叠，让人想到碗里的米一粒一粒数也数不清，每一粒都不容易。所以这首诗一千多年来一直被用来教孩子珍惜粮食，不要浪费。