Su Shi's views on society and thoughts on life are undisguised in his literary works, among which poetry is the most hearty. In more than 2,700 Su poems, the theme of intervening in social reality and thinking about life is very prominent. Su Shi's attitude towards various unreasonable phenomena in social reality is "out of date", and he always regards criticizing reality as an important theme of his poems. What is more valuable is that Su Shi's criticism of society is not limited to the New Deal or the present. He criticized the long-standing abuses and bad habits in feudal society, and embodied a deeper critical consciousness.
Su Shi's literary thought pays equal attention to literature and Taoism. He praised Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu for their contributions to ancient Chinese prose from two aspects: literature and Taoism. However, Su Shi's views on literature and Taoism were very unique in the Northern Song Dynasty. First of all, Su Shi thinks that article art has independent value, such as "pure gold and beautiful jade". Article is not only a tool to carry Tao, but also an advanced form of human spiritual activities. Secondly, the "Tao" in Su Shi's mind is not limited to Confucianism, but refers to the law of things in general. Therefore, Su Shi advocates that articles should be as natural as the objective world, with a natural attitude. He advocated the diversity and vividness of artistic style, and opposed the unification of literary style, believing that it would make the literary world as barren as "yellow hair and white reed".
Su Shi is good at writing running script and regular script, and he is also called "Song Sijia" with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fei and Cai Xiang. He studied with famous artists in Jin, Tang and Five Dynasties, and integrated the creative styles of Wang Sengqian, Xu Hao, Li Yong, Yan Zhenqing and Yang Ningshi into his family. He once claimed: "I can't create ideas in books" and "I am innovative and don't practice the ancients". Huang Tingjian called him: "In the early years, the pen was refined and not as natural as the boss." This shows that Su Shi's life is full of ups and downs, which led to the ups and downs of his calligraphy style. The existing works include Red Cliff Fu, Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry and Yellow River Sacrifice.
Su Shi is good at painting ink bamboo, and his paintings are as heavy as spirit. He advocated that painting should have feelings beyond painting, painting should have sustenance, and opposed similarity and procedural constraints. He advocated "the unity of poetry and painting, ingenious and fresh" and clearly put forward the concept of "literati painting", which laid a certain theoretical foundation for the future development of "literati painting". His works include Atlas of Ancient Trees and Strange Stones and Atlas of Xiaoxiang Bamboo Stones.