吳淇的時間闡發首先表現在對現前一刻的強調，除了對詩人欲化塵剎為永恆的著意揭示；他還特別點明「現在」對「過往」記憶的承載，過去具備強化當下知覺情緒的關鍵性作用。關於時間推移，吳著意展現「頓」予人之震撼感；「漸」也許易使人忽視，吳卻指出此乃另一番延續折磨之苦楚。至於遲、速，吳最大的突破，在於將歷朝詩評家聚焦的表層形構(形似、鍊字、善於發端等)，藉由對時間遲速的闡釋，將重心導向底層之情意面。不論頓漸或緩急，時間流逝多顯起伏不定，而予人難以掌握之壓迫感。在對時間凝滯、推移等面向有所掌握後，可進一步追究這些時間感受的來源，主要是物色與四季的變化。物色有著將抽象時間具體化之效用。在吳評中，物色本身有變化者多為植物，主要與視覺連繫，較能展現吳對定型化意象之突破;物色本身未有變化者則以動物昆蟲較常見，而多搭配聽覺，吳論相對簡單。在四季的闡發中，吳特別強調秋使人「驚」、「覺」之親身體驗，這就在悲秋的慣性書寫傳統上強先詩人對秋之個別情感。吳尚揭示夏、冬較具情緒色彩的一面，對夏季偏重說明其烘托秋天之作用，於冬季則留意它內部時間推移的樣貌，除了細膩呈現詩人情感與時節對應之起伏變忙，尚可見即使是易使人忽略時間推移的季節，時間消逝的緊張感仍無所不在。吳對時間闡發之獨到見解，不論是增進詩歌的理解或者從詩評史的角度觀之，俱可見其價值與貢獻。

Wu Qi's study of time firstly stresses the importance of present time. In addition to his important attempt for turning a moment into eternity, he points out that present time carries past memories, while past time has the key effect of strengthening the emotion perception at the present time. For the perception of the passing of time, he aims to demonstrate the sensation that results from suddenness. While people tend to ignore gradualness, Wu Qi specially points out that gradualness can be considered as continuing suffering. As for time passing slowly or quickly, the greatest breakthroughs in Wu Qi’s poetry criticism for previous dynasties is to transfer the surface structure (i.e., appearance similarity, word phrasing, excellent introduction, etc.) focused by previous studies to the level of affection by means of the explanation of the speed of time. Regardless of how time passes, the passing of time appears to be irregular, giving people the sense of oppression that time is hard to be controlled. Once we understand the progress of time, we could further identify the source of time perception. This is mainly due to the appearance of objects and the four seasons. The appearance of objects has the effect of embodying the abstract time. In Liuchao xuanshi dinglun, the objects that change themselves are often plants and are connected with human vision, which shows Wu Qi’s insights into common impressions. The objects that rarely change themselves are often animals and insects, and they are usually connected with the sense of hearing. Wu’s criticism is relatively simple on those rarely changed objects. As for four seasons, Wu Qi puts special emphasis on the first-hand experience that autumn arouses astonishment and sensation, which strengthens poets’ individual feelings on the basis of the tradition of autumnal melancholy. Wu Qi points out the sentimental aspects of summer and winter, i.e., summer has the effect of lighting up fall, while the passing of time in winter is worth noticing. These observations thoroughly express poets’ affections and the corresponding variations due to season changes, which also implies that even for seasons of being neglectful, the sense of tension for the passing of time still exists everywhere. Wu Qi’s study of time not only increases our comprehension of poems but also makes a great contribution to the history of poetry criticism. The value of his Liuchao xuanshi dinglun is therefore explicit.