122 



CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 



had become, as it were, a part of the household by taking 

 the family surname were given the same advantages as were 

 those of the master; the only distinction being that while the 

 sons and daughters of the house sat "above" the table, i.e. 

 facing south, the children of the servants sat "below," that 

 is facing north, and that the sons of the latter could not 

 attend the Official Examinations unless they left the house- 

 hold and altered their surname. 



Palace Life. — As the houses of the great and small were 

 built on the same general lines, so the lives of the great and 

 small were on the same general lines — the Court was simply 

 the "chia" of a member of the Official Class on a very 

 grand scale. 



The Emperor's intelligence was supposed to be as pene- 

 trating, as brilliant as the light of the Sun, that of the 

 Empress as the Moon ; the Emperor's mercy was as all em- 

 bracing as Heaven, that of the Empress as all-supporting as 

 Earth, thus "there is nothing which Heaven and Earth do 

 not cover or support — equally with the rest" 5£ *fe £8 %* ft K. 



"Floating Clouds" often suggest evil courtiers who 

 attempt to prevent the rays of the great luminaries from 

 reaching those whom they dislike. This symbolism is con- 

 stantly used in poetry — the line "In short, the drifting 

 clouds are able to conceal the sun" from Li T'a Po's 

 "Ascending the Feng Huang Terrace at Nanking" means that 





Pal4.ce Ladies. 



the machinations of his enemies had succeeded in preventing 

 the poet from enjoying the light of the sun and moon — the 

 -desire of every poet was to bask in these lights at the Court, 



