One side of the argument holds a positive and appreciative attitude, and the main representatives are Xie Mian, Sun Shaozhen and Xu Jingya. They wrote in the face of a new rise and put forward new aesthetic principles in the rise. A number of rising poems contributed to the new poetry tide, so they were called "three rising theorists". Xie Mian fully affirmed and supported the exploration and innovation of new poetry. He pointed out that in the face of new challenges, a number of new poets are rising. They don't stick to one pattern, boldly draw lessons from the expression techniques of modern western poetry and write some seemingly strange but actually novel and unique poems. This scene is really exciting! This gives some rationality or legitimacy to the exploration of new poetry. A few months later, Sun Shaozhen published the article "New Aesthetic Principles are Rising". On the one hand, he supported Xie Mian's viewpoint, on the other hand, he raised it to "the height of new aesthetic principles" to understand it. He believes that the rise of this wave of poetry "is not so much the rise of new people as the rise of a new aesthetic principle." The so-called "new aesthetic principle" means "disdaining to be the trumpet of the spirit of the times and making great achievements outside the world of self-emotion". They "don't praise life directly, but pursue the secret that life is dissolved in the soul", that is, express themselves. The article "The Rising Poet" published by Xu Jingya in 1983 gives a systematic and concrete explanation of the social and historical roots of misty poetry, the poet's poetic attitude, text experiment and style characteristics, just like a declaration of China modernism, which caused an uproar in the literary world, thus pushing the debate on misty poetry to a new stage.
The representatives of the other side are Li Ding, Zheng Bonong and Daixi Cheng. They look at poetry from the perspective of historical tradition and realistic politics, thinking that misty poetry is hazy poetry and eccentric poetry, and "Rise Theory" is an eccentric poetry theory, thus basically denying the artistic obscurity of misty poetry. Ai Qing and Cang Kejia, two old poets, basically hold a critical or even negative attitude towards misty poetry and "Rise Theory". Of course, many critics and poets, while affirming the exploration spirit and achievements of misty poetry, also point out its shortcomings and think that its works should be analyzed concretely. The result of the debate not only updated the closed poetic concept, but also promoted the influence of obscure poetry and the prosperity of various schools of new poetry.