 Pound critic Zhaoming Qian calls "", "The Jewell Stairs' Grievance" and "The Exile's Letter" "imagist and vorticist masterpieces".The opening poem, "Song of the Bowmen of Shu", shows the dominant themes of separation and loneliness, especially the loneliness of the soldier.This is evident also in "Lament of the Frontier Guard", and is perhaps suggestive of Pound's great distress at the loss of life during World War One.