The spirit of the wild lily embraced by the student movement can be traced back into history. In the writings of poetess Tu Pan Fang-ko, amid the scarcity and fear of the successive wars of the Japanese colonial period, boys and girls aged 17 to 18-the age when they are most sensitive to beauty-counter the darkness and cruelty of war with the pale elegance of the lily.
學運野百合的精神可以沿著歷史一路上溯，在女詩人杜潘芳格筆下，日本殖民時期，接踵的戰爭搖撼著美麗島，物資缺乏和殘酷的爭戰陰影中，十七、八歲對美最敏感的少男少女們，則以清淡素雅的百合之姿，質疑著殘酷無明的戰爭。