歷代以邊塞異域為題材之詩，多以寫戰爭為背景；或是抒發立功壯志，或是傾吐邊戰之苦，思鄉情愁；然元代以蒙古人入主中原，昔日的戰爭、離愁主題，已漸形遙遠；論及異域邊地，多是以抒寫沙漠風光、草原春色、牧民習俗為主，如此使得元詩之異域風情詩與歷代邊塞詩不相類，其寫景記俗，更具本色；而平和清麗的藝術風格，顯見此類詩歌的獨特性；又詩句中多所記載人文地理資料，極具學術史料的價值，值得吾人進一步研究。 本文就元詩中異域風情一類的作品，從其主題內容、獨創特色作一分析，在「主題之推衍」一章中，提出「自然景觀」、「異域物產」、「異域風土」、「感懷興寄」四大題材內容；在「通變之論述」中，提出「題材選取」、「藝術風格」、「兼具學術價值」、「文體形式」四大特色，以明元代異域風情詩的藝術價值與時代意義。

Over the past dynasties the poems having border defense as writing material mostly had wars for their background. Some of them were written about battle prowess in strange lands; others, about soldiers' nostalgia. In the Yuan Dynasty Mongolians were emperors of China; hence, there were no more wars or battles for border defense and no more poems of sorrow. In the poems of the Yuan Dynasty the contents were all about desert scenes, view of the prairie, manners and customs of the nomads. As a result, the exotic poems of the Yuan Dynasty are different from the border-defense poems of the past dynasties. Their contents and artistic styles are unique. Besides, there are a lot of literature and data, rich in academic values. Therefore, this article aims to make an analysis of exotic poems in the Yuan Dynasty in order to discover their characteristics and values.