Contemporary literati’s evaluation of Su Shi:

1. Lin Yutang’s evaluation of Su Shi is:

Su Dongpo was a hopeless optimist and a great poet. A humanitarian, a friend of the people, a great writer, a great calligrapher, an innovative painter, and a wine-making experimenter.

An engineer, a hater of Puritanism, a yogi Buddhist, a great Confucian politician, an emperor's secretary, a drunkard, a kind judge, a political naysayer .

A moonlit night wanderer, a poet, and a clown. But this is not enough to tell all about Su Dongpo. Su Dongpo has a richer sense of multi-faceted genius than other Chinese poets.

A sense of variety and a sense of humor, excellent intelligence, but a heart like an innocent child - this mixture is equivalent to what Jesus called the wisdom of the snake plus the gentleness of the dove.

2. Qian Mu’s evaluation of Su Shi is:

Su Dongpo’s poetry is great because he has never been politically proud in his life. His life was full of ups and downs, and all the twists and turns can be seen in his poems. But Su Dongpo's Confucianism level was not high, but in the difficult environment he was in, his personality was great.

Like his time in Huangzhou and later in Huizhou and Qiongzhou. At that time, the poems were all good, but once I got comfortable, I became a bit unsatisfied, and my poetry sometimes became clichéd. The strengths of Dongpo's poems lie in their heroic feelings and leisurely taste. His tranquility is not as good as that of Wang Mojie, and his loyalty is not as good as that of Du Gongbu.

Extended information:

Su Shi's transformation of Ci is based on his concept of Ci poetry integrating poetry and his unique creative ideas. Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Ci has been regarded as a minor path.

Although Liu Yong dedicated his life to writing Ci and promoted the development of Ci style, he failed to improve the literary status of Ci. Su Shi first theoretically dispelled the concept that poetry is superior and Ci is inferior.

He believes that poetry and poetry have the same origin and belong to one body, and poetry is the descendant of poetry. Although poetry and poetry have differences in external form, their artistic essence and expressive function should be consistent.

Therefore, he often compares poetry with poetry. Since he elevates poetry to the same status as poetry from a stylistic perspective, this provides the opportunity for poetry to move closer to the poetic style and achieve mutual communication and penetration between poetry and poetry. Theoretical basis.

Baidu Encyclopedia—Su Shi