Seven-character quatrains are a genre of traditional Chinese poetry and belong to the category of modern poetry. There are four poems in this style, each with seven words, and there are strict metrical requirements in rhyme and adhesion. The poetic style originated from Yuefu songs in the Southern Dynasties or Yuefu folk songs in the Northern Dynasties or folk songs in the Western Jin Dynasty, and its stereotypes matured in the Tang Dynasty.
Representative works include Wang Changling's Two Farewells to Furong Inn and Xin Qiji, Li Bai's The First Generation of Baidicheng, Du Fu's Downstream Meeting Li Guinian, and Yanjiao's Feeling of Watching the Tide.
Seven-character quatrain is a kind of quatrain, which is called seven-character quatrain for short, and its origin is not clear. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people thought that the Four Musts originated from Xiao Gang, Yu Shinan or the four great masters, and all of them referred to the seven-character laws. Although in its development process, the Seven Juexing was indeed dominated by the law, like the Five Juexing, the formation of the ancient Juexing still preceded the law.
Modern scholars at home and abroad generally tend to regard Yuefu folk songs in the Northern Dynasties as the source of seven-character ancient poems. Some scholars also believe that the source of seven-character ancient poetry should be traced back to the folk songs of the Western Jin Dynasty. Although there were mature seven-character quatrains like Ge Yanxing written by Cao Pi in the Han and Wei Dynasties, the earliest complete seven-character four-sentence style appeared in the ballads of the Western Jin Dynasty.
This is the song of the old man in Yuzhou, which rhymes: "Fortunately, Li escaped from danger and became a loving father. Xuanjiu forgot to work hard, so why bother thinking about singing and dancing? "