The poem "Li Sao" is in the Chuci collection and is traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan[a] of the Kingdom of Chu, who died about 278 BCE.

Qu Yuan manifests himself in a poetic character, in the tradition of Classical Chinese poetry, contrasting with the anonymous poetic voices encountered in the Shijing and the other early poems which exist as preserved in the form of incidental incorporations into various documents of ancient miscellany.

The rest of the Chuci anthology is centered on the "Li Sao", the purported biography of its author Qu Yuan.

In "Li Sao", the poet despairs that he has been plotted against by evil factions at court with his resulting rejection by his lord and then recounts a series of shamanistic spirit journeys to various mythological realms, engaging or attempting to engage with a variety of divine or spiritual beings, with the theme of the righteous minister unfairly rejected sometimes becoming exaggerated in the long history of later literary criticism and allegorical interpretation.

I wore mantles of river rush and remote angelica, Strung autumn orchids to hang from my sash.

紛吾既有此內美兮， 又重之以脩能。 扈江離與辟芷兮， 紐秋蘭以為佩。 He references his current situation, and then recounts his fantastical physical and spiritual trip across the landscapes of ancient China, real and mythological.

I teamed jade white dragons, rode the Bird that Hides Sky, Waiting on winds to fleetly fare upward.

飲余馬於咸池兮， 總余轡乎扶桑。 折若木以拂日兮， 聊逍遙以相羊。 "Li Sao" is also a political allegory in which the poet laments that his own righteousness, purity, and honor are unappreciated and go unused in a corrupt world.

The poem's main themes include Qu Yuan's falling victim to intrigues in the court of Chu, and subsequent exile; his desire to remain pure and untainted by the corruption that was rife in the court; and also his lamentation at the gradual decline of the once-powerful state of Chu.

The poet decides to leave and join Peng Xian (Chinese: 彭咸), a figure that many believe to be the God of Sun.

Wang Yi, the Han dynasty commentator to the Chuci, believed Peng Xian to have been a Shang dynasty official who, legend says, drowned himself after his wise advice was rejected by the king (but this legend may have been of later make, influenced by the circumstances of Qu Yuan drowning himself).