20 世紀三、四十年代，以香港和廣州作為主要詩歌生活空間的鷗外鷗（1911-1995；英文筆名Outer Out），是當時一位既革命、又前衛的重要詩人；然而他的作品卻長時間於現代文學史失踪。直到八十年代他重臨香港，與當地文學界重新相認，香港文學史研究者對其作品的前衛風格驚艷讚嘆。本文重讀鷗外鷗的早期作品，分析其卓爾不凡、不入時流之處：他的詩風相對當時詩壇的「現代派」如戴望舒等，更加入世，主張介入社會現實，反對含蓄典雅的寫作手法；另一方面，他以感官經驗作為觀察現實的切入點，手法大膽新穎，與其時的社會現實主義的「大眾化」詩潮又不相同。因此備受當時的評論家冷落。然而，本文認為鷗外鷗與其作品，正因為與主流詩學不同取向，更應受到文學史家的重視。

Ouwai Ou, or Outer Out (1911-1995), who lived and wrote his poetry mainly in Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the 1930s and 1940s, was a revolutionary and avant-garde poet of great significance. His works went missing in the history of modern literature for a long time. In the 1980s he revisited Hong Kong and reconnected with the local literary circle, and many Hong Kong critics began to marvel at his progressiveness. This article re-reads Ouwai's early works, placing a focus on the uniqueness and untimeliness of his poems. Compared with the ＂modern school＂ of that period like Dai Wangshu, Ouwai's style was more down to earth. He suggested more engagement with the social reality and was against subtlety and stylishness in poetry writing. On the other hand, observing the reality often through sensory experience, his way of expression was bold and novel, departing greatly from the ＂mass-oriented nature＂ of social realism at that time. His works were thus coldly received by critics. This article argues that Ouwai and his works deserve closer attention from literary historians, precisely because they have a different orientation compared with mainstream poetics.