晚清文學社團湘社代表了昀後一批傳統文人在時代變革之際的應激與分化。其核心人物易順鼎典型地體現了這一階層實際社會地位與主觀期待間存在落差、社會角色與身份認同不一致等特點。整體地看，19世紀後十年到 20世紀初葉，社友們向行政、實業、教育三個方向流動。教育領域是這一群體的主要流向，由此對下一世代的文人產生了影響。作為一個傳統與現代過渡的世代，湘社詩人群的文化選擇屬於趨新一派，但他們與保守力量間存在人際和學術上的複雜而深厚的聯繫。1895年以後，其詩歌開始比較集中地反映晚清特有的焦慮和危機感。

In the late Qing Dynasty, Xiang-she Writer Group showed the stress and the differentiation of the last group of traditional literati in the changes of the age. Yi Shun-ding, the figure at the center of this group, typically reflected the gap between their subjective anticipation and realistic social status, and the disagreement between social role and identity.On the whole, from the last decade of the 19th century to early 20th century, writers in Xiang-she chose to work in the administration, industry, and especially the education. They have greatly affected the next generation of intellectuals. After 1895, their poetry began to describe the sense of anxiety and crisis in late Qing Dynasty.