In the season when lotus can be picked in Jiangnan, the lotus leaves are so beautiful and straight. Fish are playing among the lotus leaves, one to the east, one to the west, one to the south and one to the north.
Poetry uses metaphors and puns that are common in folk love songs, with the homophonic sound of "lotus" and "pity" as the symbol of love, and the splash of fish between lotus leaves as a metaphor for the happy scene of young men and women falling in love in their works. "Lotus" is more interpreted as "love". Contextually, it refers to a psychological state of "pleasure", "excitement" and "anxiety", and sometimes it refers to the ubiquitous "love". The first three sentences of this poem outline a vivid Jiangnan landscape. The last four sentences are juxtaposed with the east, the west, the north and the south, and the orientation change is based on the swimming of fish, which is vivid, natural and interesting. Sentences are repeated and slightly changed, which is the traditional technique in the Book of Songs. Used here, it is more reminiscent of lotus pickers boating, singing and corresponding scenes in the lake. None of the words in the poem directly describe people, but through the description of lotus leaves and fish, we can hear their voices, see their people, feel a kind of vitality and appreciate the inner joy of lotus pickers.