Before and after the Opium War, the Song School, which gradually rose since Jiaqing, occupied an orthodox position in the poetry circle. The early figures of this school are mainly Cheng Da and Qi Xuanzao, and Zeng Guofan has the greatest influence in the later period. He advocates that poetry should first cultivate ambitious personality, and at the same time pay attention to learning, rhetoric and tone. This represents the literary interest of politicians who are full of confidence in maintaining the existence of the Qing Dynasty and take it as their own responsibility. With the decline of Tongzhi, the Song School evolved into a "Tongguang School", with representatives such as Zheng, Shen and Chen. In the past, "Tongguang" was simply regarded as a conservative school of poetry, but in fact it also has something worthy of attention. Among them, the most outstanding achievement is Chen. Many of his poems are written abruptly, especially in expressing personal feelings of being oppressed by social environment, which is unprecedented in China's classical poems. In addition, Su, a poet belonging to the revolutionary camp, wrote the freedom and romantic spirit of western poetry into the traditional form, which has similar significance.
However, although the traditional poetic form still has some vitality in expressing the poet's life feelings, it is obviously not suitable for the ever-changing social life. Then came the revolutionary "New Poetry School" represented by Huang Zunxian. His poems reflect War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and many important historical events since then. He advocates that "I can't make a book by hand" (miscellaneous feelings). His works have introduced many new terms, reflected new cultural knowledge, described the customs outside China, and greatly changed the face of China's classical poetry, which is refreshing.