Originated from song and eloped, through ts periodical juvenation, Chinese "poetry has naturally inherited all song' quali ties, in form, in style, and in It is" simple, short, and its" beaut aituremen, Ht is a3, thin dream but' goes into the ver of the heart. Tt speaks the. lan Funge of a shy maiden's eyes, refusing 40 tell much but eloquent in lence, "I is "trug, that most inese "poems contain. scarcely more than "a fading flower," "a lone autumn moon," "a file of flying geese," coupled with the frequent wine, sighs, partings, and sor-'Trite they doubtless seem but nothing is dearer to the Chinese heart, 'They belong to the ry of folk songs which are larly trite and, therefore, dear to the people who sing them: This is why Chinese children are taught not to read poems but to sing them aloud as they do folk' songs: This is the right way to appeciatc Chinese poetry and there is no bet: ter way.
'The lyrical simplicity so. characteristic of Chinese poetry' has not favoured the growth of long, rambling verses, but given rise to, com: pression of' thought in. brief ex-sessions. Thus, for instance, Liv ang, the first Han emperor, visit ing his home town after his con at of an empire, contented im ith no more' than two, lines when he sang his famous "Song to the Great Wind "The great wind blows, the clouds flying. only Thy brave men to guard the Empirel"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.