Tradition reads it as the lament of Yijiu, the crown prince whom King You of Zhou cast out for the sake of
褒姒, or of his tutor speaking for him;
孟子 defended its bitterness as the grief of a son who still loves his father. Two of its lines live on:
维桑与梓，
必恭敬止 'even the mulberry and catalpa trees of home must be treated with respect' made
桑梓 a word for one's hometown, and
耳属于垣 'ears are pressed to the wall' is the old form of 'the walls have ears'.
