In terms of form, it can be roughly divided into ancient poetry and modern poetry.
(1) Ancient poetry: including ancient poetry (poetry before the Tang Dynasty), Chu Ci, and Yuefu poetry. Poems in ancient poetry genres such as "ge", "gexing", "yin", "qu" and "li" also belong to ancient poetry. Ancient poetry does not focus on antithesis and rhymes more freely. The development trajectory of ancient poetry: "The Book of Songs" → Chu Ci → Han Fu → Han Yuefu → Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties folk songs → Jian'an poetry → Tao Shi and other literati five-character poems → the ancient style and new Yuefu of the Tang Dynasty.
①Chu Ci style: It is a poetry form created by Qu Yuan of Chu State during the Warring States Period. It is characterized by the use of Chu dialect and rhyme, and has a strong Chu flavor. The "Chu Ci" edited by Liu Xiang of the Eastern Han Dynasty has seventeen chapters, mainly the works of Qu Yuan, and Qu Yuan's works include "Li Sao" as his representative work. Therefore, later generations also called "Chu Ci style" and "Sao style".
②Yuefu: Originally the name of the official office in charge of music during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it later became the name of the poetic style. The music and songs collected and composed by the Yuefu official office in the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties are referred to as Yuefu for short. Although the poems written by poets in the Wei, Jin, Tang and later dynasties were not included in Yuefu, they also became Yuefu and Yuefu. Such as "Chile Song", "Mulan Poetry" and "Dan Ge Xing" (Cao Cao). Generally speaking, some titles of Yuefu poems include "ge", "line", "yin", "qu", "yin", etc.
③Ge Xing style: It is a variation of Yuefu poetry. There are many Yuefu poems after the Han and Wei Dynasties titled "ge" or "xing". Although the two have different names, there is actually no strict difference. They both mean "song". Their syllables and rhythms are generally relatively free and the form is relatively free. It adopts the ancient style of five-character, seven-character, and miscellaneous words, which is full of changes. Later, there was the "Ge Xing" style. In the Tang Dynasty, poets in the early Tang Dynasty wrote Yuefu poems. In addition to using the old Yuefu titles of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, a few poets also created new titles. Although the title was Yuefu, it was not limited to the rhythm, so it was called New Yuefu. This type of poetry developed greatly by Li Bai and Du Fu. For example, Du Fu's "Sorrowful Chen Tao", "Ai Jiangtou", "War Chariots" and "Beautiful Women", as well as many of Bai Juyi's works, adopt the Yuefu song style, and most of them use three or seven words in a mixed manner.
(2) Modern poetry: Modern poetry, which is opposite to ancient poetry, is also called modern poetry. It is a metrical poetry formed in the Tang Dynasty. It is divided into two types. Its number of words, number of sentences, level and rhyme, etc. There are strict regulations.
① One type is called "quatrains", each of which has four sentences. The five-character poem is referred to as Wujue, and the seven-character poem is referred to as Qijue.
② One type is called "Lv poetry", each poem has eight lines, five-character poems are called Wulu for short, seven-character poems are called Qilv for short, and those with more than eight lines are called Pailu (or long law).
The rhythm of verse poetry is very strict. The chapters have definite sentences (except for the rhythm), the sentences have definite characters, the rhymes have positioning (the rhyme positions are fixed), and the words have definite tones (the flat and oblique tones of each word in the poem are fixed ), the couplets have certain pairs (the two couplets in the middle of the verse must be in opposition). For example, rhythmic poetry originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and matured in the early Tang Dynasty. Each four-part couplet has eight sentences. Each sentence must have the same number of words. It can be four- or five-rhyme. The two middle couplets must be in opposition. The second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines rhyme. The sentence can be pledged or not. If the verses are laid out and extended to more than ten sentences based on the fixed patterns of the verses, it is called rhythm arrangement. Except for the first and last couplets, the upper and lower sentences need to be in opposition, and there are also opposite sentences in every other sentence, which is called "fan pair". For another example, quatrains are only four sentences and two couplets, also known as quatrains, truncated sentences, and broken sentences. They all have certain requirements for level, rhyme, and antithesis.
(3) Ci: Also known as poetry, long and short sentences, tunes, tune lyrics, Yuefu, etc. Its characteristics: the tune has a definite pattern, the sentences have a definite number, and the words have a definite tone. Depending on the number of words, it can be divided into long tune (more than 91 words), middle tune (59~90 words), and small tune (within 58 words). Words can be divided into monotonic and bimodal. Bimodal is divided into two paragraphs. The two paragraphs are equal or roughly equal in number of words. Monotonous only has one paragraph. A section of a word is called a block or a piece, the first section is called the front block, the upper block, and the upper piece, and the second section is called the back block, the lower block, and the lower piece.
(4) Qu: Also known as Ciyu and Yuefu. Yuan opera includes Sanqu and Zaju. Sanqu originated in the Jin Dynasty and flourished in the Yuan Dynasty, and its style is similar to the lyrics. Features: You can add lining words to the fixed number of words, and mostly use spoken language. Sanqu includes two types: Xiaoling and Taoshu (set of songs). A set is a continuous set of tunes, at least two tunes, and as many as dozens of tunes. Each set uses the tune of the first song as the name of the complete set, and the whole set must be of the same tune. It has no guest introduction and is only for a cappella singing.