What is the role of poetry in infecting people? Tracing back to the source is the word "xing" in the previous paragraph. When you read a poem, you are infected, and this poem also plays the role of "xing" (xing here is different from xing) In modern words: the perceptual function of poetry.
As we all know, the most important core term of poetry-image. Poetry provides you with an image. No matter whether you associate it in kind or abstractly, the purpose is to let you feel and perceive the image described by the author, thus conveying the author's feelings and infecting readers.
To sum up, poetry can infect people, which is the perceptual function of poetry.