Criticism of the fu (poetic exposition, or rhapsody) genre, both in ideological and aesthetical terms, dates nearly as far back as the genre itself. Nevertheless, the contribution of fu poetry to rhetorical invention in Chinese (medieval) literature cannot be overemphasized. In view of the quantitative and social importance of fu composition on the literary scene of the (Han, Wei, Jin and) Southern Dynasties, it is of course unsurprising that the Wenxin diaolong gives fu, among other poetic genres, a rank inferior only to shi poetry. The fact that fu poems happen to be so extensively quoted by Liu Xie in order to elaborate on specific rhetorical devices is also nothing less than fair and sound. The above statements may be mere truisms, but they should be kept in mind when dealing with obsessive condemnation, throughout the treatise, of extravagancy in the fu. Bearing in mind that, in Liu Xie’s own words, the Wenxin diaolong “holds the ‘Sorrow’ for [initial] innovation” (盖《文心》之作也…变乎骚), and that the very title of his treatise may, in some respect, be understood as a distant answer to Yang Xiong’s ‘canonical’ disparagement of fu writing compared to “worm carving”, we may also try to reconsider the treatment devoted to the genre in the chapter “Quan fu” (Elucidation of the exposition), notably its obsessive elaborations on the filiation of fu with the Shijing.