Innocent and honest, such poems of protest against the government's doing, at a time when all good scholars were hounded out of the capital, concentrated on him alone the fury of the ruling regime and almost cost him his life.

苏东坡虽然发乎纯良真挚之情，但内容是对政策表示异议，当时正值忠直之士不容于国都之际，当权者之愤怒遂集于他一人之身，情势严重，苏东坡几乎险遭不测。