賴和為臺灣新文學「打下第一鋤，撒下第一粒種子」，是「滔滔濁世中的一股清流，一顆臺灣人的良心」，陳明臺在〈人的確認〉這篇論文中確認︰「他的文學態度，始終保持與歷史、時代、民眾，緊密的聯繫。因之，他的創作意識與歷史意識、時代意識一直是共通並存的。」就賴和新詩而言，六十首作品中可指出兩點特殊的成就，一是賴和新詩語言（小說語言亦然）固守「臺語漢字」的書寫策略（其中有九首，純臺語發聲），這是強烈的臺灣意識、臺灣精神的顯現；二是賴和傑出的四首常被討論的新詩作品「始終保持與歷史、時代、民眾，緊密的聯繫」，是歷史意識、抗議精神的堅持，可以尊之為臺灣式「史詩」的建立者。這四首與史事結合的史詩，正是為農民發聲、為彰化發聲、為弱者發聲、為臺灣發聲的急切心情，是人道主義者的關懷與情義，民族主義者的使命與勇氣

Lai Ho ＂lay the first hoe and planted the first seed＂ for Taiwanese new literature. He is “a clear stream in surging troubled times”. He is “a Taiwanese conscience”. Ming-Tai Chen confirmed in the paper “the confirmation of human beings”: the literary attitude of Lai Ho is always closely linked with the history, the times and the people. Consequently, the consciousness of his creation has been coexisted with the consciousness of history and the awareness of the times. Two specific achievements can be pointed out from his sixty works of new poems. First, Lai Ho insisted that the written strategy of poems should be in Taiwanese Chinese character, the strategy of novels as well, nine poems of which are only able to be pronounced in Taiwanese, which is the strong manifestation of Taiwanese consciousness and Taiwanese spirit. Second, the four outstanding, well-discussed new poems of Lai Ho have been closely linked with the history, the times and the people, which is the insistence of the consciousness of history and of the spirit of protest, and who can be respected as the ancestor of Taiwanese epics. These four epics, closely linked with historical events, represent the eagerness to voice for farmers, for Changhwa, for the weak and for Taiwan, which are the care and the comradeship of Humanists and the mission and the courage of nationalists