He suggested that literary works should reflect the objective world, and be natural and diverse rather than stagnant and monotonous.

Holding fast to this principle, he wrote his proses in plain language and a care-free style. For his achievements in prose-writing, he was rated as one of the "Eight Famous Scholars in the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1297)".

His poems, care-free and well-crafted, are critical of social ills and reflective about life.

Excellent in prose and Ci and other forms of poetry, Su Shi is often regarded as the representative of the literature of the Song Dynasty (960-1297).

Su Shi's calligraphy and paintings were not lesser accomplishments than his poems. His father Su Xun and brother Su Zhe were also renowned literati of that time.

Su Shi served as a magistrate of Huzhou in 1079, to where he had travelled three times before. He served as the magistrate for only three months and then was sent to prison because he opposed Wang Anshi's reform. In his three months in Huzhou, Su led people against flood and drought, and built causeways, which were later named "Su Causeway". He wrote more than 40 poems during those three months and his three previous visits to Huzhou.