This term refers to a poetic style that chiefly explicated Laozi, Zhuangzi (369?-286 BC), Buddhism, and The Book of Changes. Metaphysical poetry emerged at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty and flourished during the subsequent Eastern Jin Dynasty. Represented by Sun Chuo (314-371), Xu Xun (314-361), Yu Liang (289-340), and Huan Wen (312-373), this genre featured the expounding of abstruse and metaphysical thinking in poetry. During the turbulent years of the Wei and Jin dynasties, scholars stayed away from politics and focused on the study of Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Buddhism to explore abstruse and philosophical ideas unrelated to current social developments. By the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, this rarefied discourse found its way into writing, creating the metaphysical style of poetry, which later merged with landscape poetry.

In the Western Jin Dynasty, discourse of metaphysics was hot, which became even more popular during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, giving rise to a new literary style. Consequently, despite the tumultuous times, writers composed literary works characterized by detachment and aloofness. Poetry invariably illustrated the ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and prose-poetry became commentaries on these two thinkers (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)