Stephen Owen writes that
Wen fu is a work of "both literature and literary thought", "a work of such originality that it could not have been anticipated from the works that preceded it.... nothing like it ever had been written concerning literature". The work introduced a new vocabulary that remains influential, though in many cases problematic. Moving away from questions such as the ethical purpose of literature, its social context, or the expression of personality, Lu Ji turns to the
Neo-Taoist theory of mind and its
cosmological basis. This philosophical stance describes the poet's mind as wandering through the microcosmos within his own body in search of encounters that form the origin of literary work. The
fu as a poetic form was known for its verbal display, usually cataloguing and listing an array of items in order to say everything that could be said on a topic. Lu presents this philosophical stance in a series of balanced elements that unfold in an orderly way. For instance, Lu balances what the poet learns from thinking against what is learned from reading. These antithetical elements are then amplified and repeated in different contexts, often with statements and counter-statements in order to avoid being one-sided. The
Wen fu is rhymed, but does not employ regular rhythmic patterns: hence the term "rhymeprose".
Wen fu has influenced modern poets such as
Ezra Pound,
Gary Snyder,
Howard Nemerov,
Eleanor Wilner, and
Carolyn Kizer. == Translations ==