In 1127, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty captured the Song capital of Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident, ending the Northern Song Dynasty and forcing the Song court to flee south, establishing the Southern Song Dynasty with its capital at Lin'an (modern Hangzhou). This catastrophic event divided China politically and culturally for over a century.

The loss of northern China profoundly affected Song poetry, infusing it with themes of exile, nostalgia, and patriotic mourning that transformed previously elegant courtly verse into vehicles for political protest and personal anguish. Poets like Lu You composed thousands of verses expressing longing for reconquest and criticism of appeasement policies, demonstrating poetry's role in political discourse. The geographic division also created distinct northern and southern literary cultures, with northern poetry under Jin rule incorporating Jurchen influences while southern poetry maintained Han Chinese traditions.