The Book of Chinese Poetry Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: No. 1." A CONSTANT MEMORY. You move about with easy careless mien, Or hold your state receptions in your halls, In fur robes clad, whose white and glossy sheen Gleams bright and brilliant as the sunlight falls. Do I forget you ? Nay, the inmost core Of my sad heart, remembering you, is sore. No 1. There are just two sentiments in this ballad, which, in the original version, contains three stanzas. The sentiments are (a) " You saunter about in your Court elegantly dressed in furs," and (b) " I think of you with grief and pain." From this I deduce the simple interpretation that a lady thinks of her lover, a man of princely rank, in all his glory, and sighs when she remembers that she is not with him. The Chinese commentators and Dr. Legge insist that the piece represents the lament of some officer of Kuei over the frivolous disposition of his ruler, who cared more to display his fine fur robes than to govern his country properly. The critics enter into all sorts of minutiae. A jacket of lamb's fur, for instance, may be used in giving audience to ministers, and a robe of fox fur at the Court of the Suzerain, but both were out of place in private life. From this want of decorum on the Prince's part they infer a general misgovernment of the State, a refusal of "superior men " to take office, and all the rest of it. No. 2. THE NEGLECT OF PIOUS OBSERVANCE. If I could only see A man in mourning cap and skirts of white, In whose worn looks and earnest tear-stained face The signs of pious feeling one might trace, How eagerly that man I would invite To be a mate to me. Alas ! these evil times, when all neglect The symbols of affection and respect. No. 3. THE CHERRY TREE. The cherry stands where the fields lie low. How lovely, how glossy, ea...Read More