This article focuses on the poetry of military officers in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The poetry of military officers not only created a new canon of poetics, but also reflected the combination of the art of war, prose, and scholarship popular at the time. First, this study cites Qian Qian-yi and Tang Xian-zu's theories that the art of poetry is equal to the art of war. Next, the article explores the case studies of military officer poets Wan Biao, Qi Ji-guang and Chen Di, and analyzes their poetry which is infused with allusions to the Confucian Classics (jing xue), Neo-Confucianism (li xue) and Buddhism. In addition, military officers' poetry connects with the Ge-diao school, which is important in poetic history. Finally, this article re-evaluates military officers' poetry, concluding that it embodies historical and cultural currents of its time period, while also providing new definitions of literature.
