118 



CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 



In my waking moments we are interlocked in happiness. 



After the drowsiness, which follows the sipping of wine, overcomes me 

 we are separated, our union no longer exists. 



(As he lies asleep on the ground he is of course unconscious of the 

 moon and how has he any shadow? He, his shadow, and the moon 

 are no longer one, but three entities). 



For endless time I am bound up in and find my joy in those things 

 which have no human passions. 



(Li T'ai-po feels that because he is capable of emotions and sensa- 

 tions, he can find ecstasy in communion with the manifestations of 

 Nature, which have none). 



We will meet then together in the vast, boundless, Cloudy River. 



(When he sleeps he will dream of the moon in the "Cloudy River," 

 which is our "Milky Way," and will believe that he and his 

 shadow are there also). 



It is hardly too much to say that the Western conception 

 of the Chinese poet (which is that in many cases he is a 

 "drunken reveller") is entirely wrong. It is due to an 

 absolute misunderstanding of the word "tsui" — used as it 

 is used in poetry. The accounts most often quoted of Li 

 T'ai-po show that he himself unquestionably did upon 

 occasion reach a state which would be called "ta tsui," but 

 even then his control was such that he could write marvellous 

 verse. 









Gentleman in His Travelling Carriage. 



Travel was extremely popular, (though only the rich 

 could travel in comfort) and the poets especially wandered 

 far and wide throughout the Empire. The life of the women 

 was very different to that of the men, if the latter could 

 travel and enjoy the beauties of natural scenes, the gaities 

 of the Court, and the pleasures of social intercourse, the 



