How to interpret the ancient poem Yao Tao in The Book of Songs?

Yao Tao is a poem to congratulate a young girl on her marriage. In the Zhou Dynasty, girls usually got married in the bright spring when peach blossoms were in full bloom, so the poet began with peach blossoms and sang a hymn for the bride.

The whole poem is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is "flower", the second chapter is "reality" and the third chapter is "leaf", which expresses three different meanings with three changes of peach trees.

The first chapter compares the youthful charm of the bride with the bright peach blossoms. The fresh peach blossoms are blooming one after another, and the newly-dressed bride is excited and shy at the moment, and her cheeks are flushed. It is really a peach blossom with a face and charm. In particular, the word "burning" really gives people a bright feeling. There are both descriptions of scenery and characters in the poem, and the scene blends with each other, setting off a happy and warm atmosphere. Since then, flowers, especially peach blossoms, have been used to describe beauty in an endless stream, such as "Today last year, peach blossoms set each other off in this door" in Hu's "South China".

The second chapter is to express my wishes after marriage. Peach blossoms bear fruit naturally. The poet said that its fruit grew fat and big, symbolizing that the bride gave birth to a baby early and raised a fat doll for nothing.

The third chapter wishes the bride's family prosperity with lush peach leaves. Peach tree branches are fruitful, and the peach trees are shaded from the sun, symbolizing the happiness of the newly married bride after marriage.

This language is extremely beautiful and refined. Not only skillfully turn it into various inverted sentences and synonyms, but also use the word "one" repeatedly. The word "one" tells the bride's beautiful character of living in harmony with her family, and also writes that her beautiful character has injected fresh blood into the newly-built family and created a harmonious and happy atmosphere. The word "Yi" can hardly be replaced by one word when it hits the floor.

This poem also reflects the definition of beauty at that time. In people's ideas at that time, only the beauty of "eye view" is the beauty like peach blossom, the brightness like eyes, and the perfection and imperfection. A girl should not only have the appearance like peach blossom, but also have inner beauty. Only with the virtue of "housekeeping" can a beautiful girl be considered as a qualified bride.