During the first half of the fifteenth century, writers of the taige ti 臺閣體 (Grand Secretariat style) rose in prominence in the Chinese literary circle due to imperial patronage and influence of the Neo-Confucian ideology. These writers preferred pure and refined works eulogizing the flourishing ages of harmony, prosperity, and peace. They ignored the ancient poet Qu Yuan (c. 343–c. 277 b.c.) because his personal traits were adjudged lacking the Confucian golden mean spirit, and the verses collected in his anthology Chu ci (Songs of the South) were regarded as ornate and depleting substance. In the sixteenth century, the pedagogical court writers still showed little interest in making comments and exegeses on Chu ci; Chen Renxi (1581–1636) was an exception. From 1618 to 1626, Chen successively published two works entitled Guwen qi shang and Zhuzi qi shang. Both works contain the full text of Chu ci and Chen’s “upper marginal comments” (meipi), which are long neglected but are important in the history of Chu ci study. This article seeks to unveil the value of these marginal comments. Part one examines the life, works, and the literary thought of Chen Renxi. Part two explores Chen’s study of Chu ci: it scrutinizes the process of compilation and annotation of the two works, assesses the quantity, and analyses the content of the marginal comments. On this basis, it further explores Chen’s study from three directions: first, the status of Chu ci in Chinese literature; second, the personal character of Qu Yuan; and third, the literary skills of his poetic works.