Yuan Mei (1716-1797) was an influential poet and literary theorist in the middle of Qing dynasty. He advocated that poetry should express temperament, and declared that "a poet can be childlike without losing his childlike innocence" (Volume III of Poems with the Garden). He also said that "poetry can't be written without me" (ibid., volume 7), emphasizing that true temperament and true personality are the basis of poetry, and that as long as it is sincere, it is a romantic work and does not violate morality. On this basis, Yuan Mei wanted to reconcile expressionism and pragmatism in poetry theory. However, it is at this point that Yuan Mei's explanation has a self-contradictory flaw.

Yuan Mei said in a letter to another influential poet Shen Deqian at that time:

"Fu Yi (Fu Xuan) said that he was deeply immersed in love, and he was a gentleman; Shen Yue was a Buddha in two dynasties, and he had a confession of slang. He is a man and a villain. "

That is to say, Fu Xuan's love poems do not affect his gentleman's character, while Shen Yue's love poems are sincere, but they will never change the fact that he is a villain. The poet's character cannot be judged according to the feelings expressed in his poems. This view obviously contradicts the assertion that Yuan Mei's poems are the expression of the poet's personal feelings.

In another paragraph of Suiyuan's poem, this contradiction is more prominent:

Wang ... cloud: poet, temple word also. The temple is the residence of Jiuqing, so it is said that it is "innocent". Recently, a Buddhist monk has adhered to his theory, and moving clouds and poems can examine his character. I recited a couplet in the play: "I mourn for two geese, which means a hook of silver." who is it? Taishi means thin, saying "it's just Dong Lang (Han Wo), Wen () and Li (Shang Yin)." Xiao Yu said: "This is a poem by Wen Lugong (Wen Yanbo), a veteran of the Song Dynasty." Too much history and horror. I recited Li Wenzheng's poem "Give a Prostitute" again and said, "When can I see Chanjuan again from today?" Warm and sincere Wen is a famous founding minister. How can a husband hurt his character? "There is fog in the Book of Filial Piety" says: "Poets hold on to it", and hold on to their temperament so that they don't go wild, and their intention is better than Jing's tolerance.

There are two diametrically opposed views in this discussion: first, the poet's words are not enough to identify the poet's moral character, which Wen Yanbo can take as an example; Secondly, we can see the poet's sincere temperament from his words, and Liu Yun can be used as an example. Finally, quoting "poet, persistence" implies that poetry can restrain people's temperament, which goes against the premise of Yuan Mei's view of poetry. Three mutually exclusive viewpoints appear in one discourse at the same time, which reflects the confusion in Yuan Mei's theory. This kind of confusion directly destroyed the integrity and unity of his theory, weakened the persuasiveness of Yuan Mei's central argument in poetics, and greatly reduced its influence on the tone theory of "Poetry must have human relations" advocated by Shen Deqian at that time.