Li Sao
King Huai's historical fame is especially due to the poetry of Qu Yuan, and other early Classical Chinese poetry, as preserved in the "Chu ci": particularly and seminally the poem "Li Sao" (sometimes translated as "Encountering Sorrow") is thought to reflect the political and personal relationships between Qu Yuan or the poet writing in his persona and King Huai. The main themes of "Li Sao" and the poems of the Sao genre include Qu Yuan's falling victim to intrigues in the court of Chu, his resulting exile, his desire to nevertheless remain pure and untainted by the corruption that was rife in the court, and his lamentations at the gradual decline of the once-powerful state of Chu. At the very end the poet, resigned, states his resolve to die, by drowning in the river.