According to Baidu Library, in A Dream of Red Mansions, the functions of poetry are as follows:
1. Depict characters and show their personalities. For example, writing Baoyu's poems by others shows Baoyu's rebellious and perverse character; Through the poems of Daiyu and Baochai, their sensitive, delicate, rational and indifferent characters are shown respectively.
2. Express the character's experience and destiny. For example, there is "under the screen window, I missed it; The word "Huangtuling wins in secret" indicates the tragic fate of Qingwen and Daiyu.
3. Express the author's own thoughts and feelings. For example, the Mid-Autumn Festival poem "Crab Fu" embodies the author's "satire" on crabs and resentment against the unreasonable feudal social system. Depicting characters and creating poetic mood.