Unlike Pampa who glorifies Arjuna and Karna in his writing, Ranna eulogises his patron King Satyashraya and favourably compares him to Bhima, whom he crowns at the end of the Mahabharata war. He calls Bhima's adversary Duryodhana "mahanubhava" ("a great person"). The work contains some of the earliest examples of elegiac verses (called "shoka gita" or "charama gita") in the Kannada language, noted among which is one piece that describes the heart-rending lamentation (called "karuna rasa" or "sentiment of pathos") of Duryodhana on seeing the slain bodies of his brother Duhshasana, his inseparable friend in joy and sorrow, Karna, and Arjuna's valorous son Abhimanyu. The effect given to the writing, the language, the diction and the style maintained throughout the narration has earned Ranna a place among the most notable authors of Kannada literature. Ascribed also to Ranna is the earliest available dictionary in Kannada language called the "Rannakanda" (990), of which only eleven verses still exist. His other notable writings were the "Chakeresvaracharita" and the "Parashuramacharitha". According to historian Suryanath Kamath, the latter work, which is now lost, may have been a eulogy of Chavundaraya, whom the poet admired. For his literary contributions, the title "Kavi Chakravathi" ("Emperor among poets") was bestowed upon Ranna by his patron king.