Ancient love poetry has been a slow drama to get into right from the very start. The first episodes were a bit tiring to go through and the setup they hold for later execution felt weak and underdeveloped. Supposedly the lives of the great Gods should have a bit more backstory than what we were given in the beginning, considering everything that comes after is reminiscent of their relationships and origin. From about episode nine or so there is more development where the story is finally getting somewhere interesting, but then eventually we have a huge time skip, and oh my, does it help to keep the show alive. Although at that point the story becomes a rehash of cliches a lot of Xianxia novels and shows made after them have, I still think this was the strongest point of the whole show.

This brings me to the last part of the story where all of the beforementioned development goes nowhere in particular, as the same old problem from the past is brought back again. Unlike Ten miles of peach blossoms, for example, a story where love is a secondary objective at best, Ancient love poetry is a story primarily about love and sacrifice for the greater good. The whole time during watching this the viewer struggles alongside the characters with the same dilemma they have, in the process hating many decisions the characters make for the sake of attempting to keep both love and responsibility satisfied. Is all of that worth it? The ending itself makes it unclear, but I suppose the whole point is that we get to see just a glimpse of that story, and we get to decide how much trouble a love that great is worth.

Plot discussion aside, I was impressed with the male and female leads that were chosen; their acting leaves little to be desired and their chemistry is superb. Whatever faults I can find when it comes to them I attribute to cliched writing at times and lack of romantic scenes for a good portion of the story. We could have had and certainly deserved to see much more than that. The love triangle is practically unobtrusive and non-existent; the second male lead has his faults but treasures his friends above everything else.

One major positive aspect of this story are its supporting characters, as there are more than a few of them that you will come to care about during the progression of the show. Despite some plot holes and unresolved stories, the majority of what is shown gets a resolution in the very end, which is also another plus for me.

The villains are of the saddest and scariest kind, those that start of perfectly normal but end up evil due to blackening over time. Of course, this means you have a lot of tedious scenes of power misuse that people around them tolerate beyond any reason or common sense, which made this old cliche dampen a lot of screentime that could have been used differently. However, it's not as bad as in Ten miles or Ashes of love, but maybe only because this drama has fewer episodes. I'm kind of scared to think what other scheming we could have had with an additional ten to twenty episodes, for I have already seen more than enough of it. The villains get away with a lot and get little to no repercussions for it, and at times it feels like the protagonists just ignore a lot of what they do which will make just about anyone watching this angry. But hey, it's a cliche.

The music that was used in the background of the scenes, as well as the opening, was pretty good, however not as memorable as some other similar shows.

I wouldn't rewatch this show; it's a bit too sad and too frustrating to deal with for a second time. However, for its very likable female lead and sometimes the male lead as well (when he is not hit by the hammer of the scriptwriter/novel writer themselves), side characters that I cared about and that each had a purpose for being there as well as overall world-building and great acting from everyone, this drama was more than a good watch. I'm hoping we get a second season that is based on the sequel of the book so our collective grievances over some characters can be put to rest.