韓、柳古文的優劣，自來是文評家討論的焦點。而在眾多的評論中，以桐城文派的看法最值得注意。方苞將道德與文章看成同一回事，並以此為基礎，建立起“義法”之說。方苞對柳宗元文多方挑剔，幾於吹毛求疵，甚而大肆詆毀，不過是實踐其理論罷了。在桐城文派的流傳過程中，對柳宗元的這種成見，儘管不能說是定調，卻也是主流意見，難怪給人留下“桐城始於排柳，終於排柳”的印象。桐城中人評論柳文，特別是談到他的文氣時，就一直受到這種成見的干擾。方苞以文氣不充譏貶柳文，並認為是自反不縮所造成。後來的劉大櫆，甚至是賀濤等，皆沿用其說。但不容忽視的是，劉大櫆以後，桐城中人評論柳文，受到成見的干擾已有減少的迹象，已開始自覺地從文學的角度來評析柳文。這種微妙的轉變，不能不說是一種進步。這跟他們逐漸把道德與文章離析為二是分不開的。從曾國藩的懷疑，到吳汝綸明確判別義理與文章為二事，他們對文學獨立性的認識漸趨清晰，創作如此，評論也如此，觀念上的這種轉變，就反映在吳汝綸等人對柳文的評價上。

Comparing the works of Han Yu (韓愈) and Liu Zong-yuan (柳宗元) has been a focal point of critics. Among the many discussions, the point of view of the Tong-cheng Literary School (桐城文派) deserves special notice. Fang Bao (方苞) regarded morality and literary works as the same thing and established the concept of “Yi-fa(義法)”. He attempted to put his theory into practice by criticizing Liu’s works harshly and unfairly. During the spread of the Tong-cheng Literary School (桐城文派), Fang’s preconceived notion about Liu might not be the final conclusion but certainly the mainstream opinion, and hence no wonder the impression of “Tong-cheng Literary School starts and ends on attacking against Liu” was made. In fact, Tong-cheng Literary Schools” discussions on Liu’s works, especial on his style of writing, have been interfered with by such kind of prejudice. Fang commented that the Wen-qi(文氣) of Liu’s works were not strong enough due to the defect in his moral character. His descendants, such as Liu Da-kui(劉大櫆) and even He Tao (賀濤), continued to adopt this approach to ward Liu’s works. Yet, the critics after Liu Da-kui (劉大櫆) had made a fine adjustment consciously that their discussions became less biased and they started to evaluate Liu’s works from a literary perspective. The change, which could be attributed to the gradual development of the mentality of dividing morality and literary works, could be regarded as a kind of progress and should not be ignored. From Zeng Guo-fan (曾國藩) with doubt to Wu Ru-lun(吳汝綸) with certainty, Tong-cheng Literary School (桐城文派)regarded moral and literary works, including literary writing and literary criticism, as two different matters. The change of the point of view of Wu Ru-lun(吳汝綸) and the other critics toward Liu’s works is a result of the recognition of the independent features of literature.