As a shameful record of China's first failure to resist western aggression, the Opium War not only exposed the corruption and incompetence of the Qing regime, but also declared the deep crisis faced by China, which caused great shock in people's hearts. During this period, many poems were left to expose the disadvantages of the times and express the feelings of worrying about the country and the people. As a record of the times, they have special significance.
Lin Zexu (1785— 1850), who is famous for banning smoking in Humen, is not famous for his poems, but because of his position and experience, his poems are of great value to understanding the situation before and after the Opium War. When he was stationed in Yili, he wrote "Going to the Garrison to Show His Family" and "Feeling of Walking Out of Jiayuguan", expressing his enthusiasm for worrying about the country and the people and making great efforts to govern the country. In previous songs, he often chanted the phrase "If the country survives, why not avoid every cloud has a silver lining?" We can feel the heart of an honest politician from it.
A poem reflecting the historical facts of the Opium War, Bei Qingqiao's famous poem An Yin, consists of 120 quatrains. As a record of what the author saw and heard in the army, these poems have a strong authenticity in exposing the corruption and backwardness of the Qing army and reflecting the life and psychology of soldiers. In addition, Zhang Weiping's "Sanyuanli" describes the process of villagers besieging the British invading army in Sanyuanli, Guangzhou. Zhu Qi's Elegy of General Guan praised patriotic general Guan Tianpei, which is widely known. There are many similar poems, so I won't repeat them one by one. This kind of poetry often has the weakness of simple thinking and simple narration, and the problems involved are mostly superficial. However, they not only reflect the face of that special historical period and people's grief and indignation, but also further promote the atmosphere of discussing current affairs with poems since Gong Zizhen.
The form of poetry has also become more free, less constrained by meter, and the language is mostly straightforward. This kind of poetry also has an influence on the change of poetic style.