劉基是朱元璋的重臣，又是明代為數不多的詩文俱佳的作家之一，詩歌與高啟齊名。《覆瓿集》作於元末，主要反映了詩人在干戈搶攘之世憂國憂民的情懷，即便是山水詩作，也與一般詩人筆下的清麗俊爽、天然意趣的風格不同，往往帶有一抹淒清凝重的色彩。後期的作品主要收集在《犁眉公集》之中，以嗟衰嘆老為主。《覆瓿》勝於《犁眉》。後者雖然大多作於仕途多艱、人生失意之時，卻具有濃鬱的浪漫色彩。劉基詩歌有明顯的師古傾向，尤以師習杜甫、韓愈為甚，實開明代三百年復古之風。

　　　　　Liu Chi was an important official during Chu Yuan-chang's time. He also was a famous writer good at both poetry and essays in the Ming Dynasty. His poems were known to be as good as Kao Ch'i's. He wrote Fu-pu chi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. His poetry had some dreary and sad sentiment even when he described beautiful landscape. The works in his later life were collected in Li-mei Kung chi which represented his miserable and dreary life in old age. Fu-pu chi was better than Li-mei Kung chi. Li-mei had a strong romantic color although most of the poems in it were written in straitened circumstances. Liu Chi's poetry displayed clear resemblances to Tu Fu's and Han Yu's. Actually, Liu Chi was the pioneer of the Ming Dynasty doctrine of going back to the ancients, which lasted for 300 years.