The
lu- and ci-poems in
Dreams in the Red Mansions fall into three distinctive groups. The first group of poems are implicative,
previewing the characters in the novel by means of decomposing the Chinese characters or resonance. The second group keeps paces with the development of the fate and personality of the novel's roles, simulating their emotion and tones to deliver their sighs about themselves. The last group expresses the author's true feelings and sorrowful sighs in the depths of his mind by way of the novel's anticipation. The former two groups of poems are either particular with craftsmanship or with appropriacy and wittiness, but the last group is most meaningful and most valuable in artistic achievement for they truthfully reveal Cao Xueqin's real motive and inner emotion to write
Dreams in the Red Mansions. The
lu- and ci-poems in Dreams in the Red Mansions are remarkably outstanding as poems in novels but they are by no means the best in comparison with poems by the best-known poets.