Li Sao is an exciting poem written by the poet with great sadness when he was exiled again, feeling hopeless to save the country and his patriotic ideal was completely shattered. The whole poem has 373 sentences and 2490 words. It is divided into two parts: the first part is the poet's review of the past history, and the second part is the poet's description of the future road exploration.
Through the poet's fiery enthusiasm, magnificent imagination, glowing language, unremitting struggle and faithful action of dedicating himself to the ideal all his life, the whole poem shows the poet's fighting spirit of dedicating himself to the lofty ideal, his deep patriotic feelings of sharing weal and woe with the motherland, and his brilliant and clean personality of loving progress and hating darkness. At the same time, through the process of the poet's battle and the tragic ending, it reflects the sharp struggle between the progressive forces and the reactionary forces in Chu politics, and exposes the darkness and corruption of Chu politics and the arrogance of the reactionary forces.
On the basis of telling the facts, the whole poem uses bold exaggeration, beautiful symbols and figurative techniques, and through rich and peculiar imagination, drives mountains and rivers, nature and historical legends to form a magnificent artistic picture, and shapes a pure and tall lyric hero image.
The poem is magnificent in structure, changeable in form, sincere and strong in feelings, magnificent in momentum, colorful in language, beautiful and concise, profound in reality and strong in positive and romantic spirit.
Poetry developed the mythological romanticism created by China, and became the direct source of China's literary romanticism. For more than 2,000 years, it has educated and inspired countless readers and exerted a great and far-reaching influence on later scholars and literature. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu An, the king of Huainan, wrote a monograph "Biography of Li Sao", which gave high praise to Li Sao and the poet for the first time, saying that he had both "national style" and "Xiaoya", while Qu Yuan's ambition could "win glory with the sun and the moon". Lu Xun, a great modern writer, said that Li Sao is "a masterpiece with excellent eloquence". "Its words are long, its thoughts are fantastic, its writing is beautiful and its purpose is clear." Later generations called it "coquettish" together with the "national style" in the Book of Songs. Its realism and romanticism, together with its "national style", have been inherited and carried forward by outstanding writers in China for more than two thousand years.
Li Sao is a masterpiece in the history of China literature. It is not only China literature, but also a glittering and translucent treasure in the world literature treasure house.