表的職能為陳述請求，讓表作為表的一個子類，目的在於辭讓皇帝派任之官爵、封賞，此一文體何以在六朝時期逐漸興盛，是文學史上一個頗可注意的問題。東漢授官已有三讓之俗，南朝仍有三品以上授官辭讓之風氣，是為讓表興起之內在理路。及至南朝，文學逐漸成為專業技能，讓表亦多由親自撰寫轉為託人代筆，而受官辭讓之理由多為老調重彈，如何能跳脫舊調而新人眼目、又能得體兼顧君臣之分，實考驗代筆作者之書寫能力。《文選》所選錄之讓表，兼具「後進英髦咸資準的」的「社會性向」，以及文章文采之「藝術性向」，並突顯魏晉至南朝讓表書寫從陳情述理轉向用典隸事之傾向，而各篇選錄讓表不同之辭讓理由與謀篇，亦提供了後世文人書寫讓表之模習典範。

Memorials to the throne functioned as a means of presenting requests to the emperor. An important subcategory of memorials to the throne was memorials on yielding position, which were used by potential candidates to politely decline official positions, noble ranks, enfeoffment and awards. The reason behind this literary genre’s emergence during the Six Dynasties has become an intriguing literary and historical problem. The custom of thrice yielding position had been practiced since the Eastern Han Dynasty. As in the Southern Dynasties, turning down positions higher than the third rank was common, which suggests the existence of an inner logic to the rise of memorials on yielding position. Also, literary composition gradually became a field of expertise in the Southern Dynasties, and many such memorials came to be written by professional ghostwriters. Since most reasons for turning down positions had become cliché, creating original content while taking care not to damage the delicate relationship between monarchs and courtiers constituted a real challenge for ghostwriters. The memorials on yielding position included in the Wenxua 文選reveal the shift from the social aspect of distinguishing men of future generations to the artistic aspect of highlighting literary skill. This indicates that the objective of these memorials was more oriented towards literary merit than the formal presentation of a request. Moreover, the rationales and structures used in these memorials also provided future literati with models to emulate.