At the beginning of the second century B.C., poetry was still composed on the model of the _Li Sao_, and we are in possession of a number of works assigned to Chia I (B.C. 199-168), Tung-fang So (_b._ B.C. 160), Liu Hsiang, and others, all of which follow on the lines of Ch‘ü Yüan’s great poem. But gradually, with the more definite establishment of what we may call classical influence, poets went back to find their exemplars in the Book of Poetry, which came as it were from the very hand of Confucius himself. Poems were written in metres of four, five, and seven words to a line. Ssŭ-ma Hsiang-ju (_d._ B.C. 117), a gay Lothario who eloped with a young widow, made such a name with his verses that he was summoned to Court, and appointed by the Emperor to high office. His poems, however, have not survived. MEI SHÊNG (_d._ B.C. 140), who formed his style on Ssŭ-ma, has the honour of being the first to bring home to his fellow-countrymen the extreme beauty of the five-word metre. From him modern poetry may be said to date. Many specimens of his workmanship are extant:-- (1.) “_Green grows the grass upon the bank, The willow-shoots are long and lank; A lady in a glistening gown Opens the casement and looks down The roses on her cheek blush bright, Her rounded arm is dazzling white; A singing-girl in early life, And now a careless roué’s wife.... Ah, if he does not mind his own, He’ll find some day the bird has flown!_” (2.) “_The red hibiscus and the reed, The fragrant flowers of marsh and mead, All these I gather as I stray, As though for one now far away. I strive to pierce with straining eyes The distance that between us lies. Alas that hearts which beat as one Should thus be parted and undone!_” [Sidenote: LIU-HÊNG--LIU CH’Ê] LIU HÊNG (_d_. B.C. 157) was the son by a concubine of the founder of the Han dynasty, and succeeded in B.C. 180 as fourth Emperor of the line. For over twenty years he ruled wisely and well. He is one of the twenty-four classical examples of filial piety, having waited on his sick mother for three years without changing his clothes. He was a scholar, and was canonised after death by a title which may fairly be rendered “Beauclerc.” The following is a poem which he wrote on the death of his illustrious father, who, if we can accept as genuine the remains attributed to him, was himself also a poet:-- “_I look up, the curtains are there as of yore; I look down, and there is the mat on the floor; These things I behold, but the man is no more._ “_To the infinite azure his spirit has flown, And I am left friendless, uncared-for, alone, Of solace bereft, save to weep and to moan._ “_The deer on the hillside caressingly bleat, And offer the grass for their young ones to eat, While birds of the air to their nestlings bring meat_ “_But I a poor orphan must ever remain, My heart, still so young, overburdened with pain For him I shall never set eyes on again._