《詩經．小雅．采薇》乃膾炙人口之佳構，其中「昔我往矣，楊柳依依。今我來思，兩雪霏霏」，更為騰播士林之名句。本詩為遣戍役以防備玁狁之作，詩中流露出士卒守邊思家之哀怨，傳到後世逐漸形成具有特定象徵意義的文化載體。歷代治《詩經》者，率皆以毛傳、鄭箋為本。然而毛傳解詩之言極為簡潔，鄭箋亦然，後學者便扮演起幫毛傳、鄭箋訓釋的角色。由於各家解經立場互異，引證資料參差，以致於解釋《詩經》同一字辭時，產生不少歧異，也造成後學者解讀上之困惑。〈采薇〉既富含象徵意義，故歷代說解者繁多，自然也有文句訓釋歧異的問題。為能精確地品賞本詩，有必要先就其重要辭句作最精密地考論。

Shi Jing. Xiao Ya. Cai Wei includes excellent works of poetry. Among the pieces, these lines “When I set out in the past, the willows were fresh and green; new as I am to return, the snow is falling thick and fast” are even more largely praised. This poetry is about soldiers sent to the front to defend hostile nomadic tribes. It expresses their sadness of leaving home for a solitary post far away, and after being passed on for generations, it has become a cultural carrier that possesses specific symbolic meaning. Those who studied Shi Jiang back in the history often followed the Mao Zhuan and Zheng Qian. However, both interpretations on the poetry had been too brief. So later on many scholars start to interpret the Mao Zhuan and Zheng Qian. Since each interpreter has different point of view with varied citation of information, even the same phrase in the Shi Jiang may be explained differently, which has caused tremendous confusion for later learners. Since Cai Wei is full of symbolic meaning, many of its interpretations have been done throughout the history and naturally the problem of discrepant interpretation exists. In order to appreciate this poetry more properly, it is essential to have the most important lines of the poetry precisely analyzed first.