In people's common sense, everyone thinks that free verse was brought to China by some new poets (such as Guo Moruo, Liu Bannong and Hu Shi) during the May 4th New Culture Movement.
In fact, the popularity of free verse in China was much earlier than this. For example, Chen Ziang in the Tang Dynasty wrote a famous free poem "Youzhou Tower", which reads as follows.
Chen Ziang Youzhou Tower
No one can see the ancient wisdom of the ancient king, only those wise men who can't see the afterlife can see it.
I think of heaven and earth, there is no limit, there is no end, I am alone, tears fell down!
translate
You can't see the ancient sages moving forward, and you can't see the wise masters today.
I feel sad at the thought of boundless heaven and earth, and cry alone.
Born out of the shackles of thousands of years of poetic rhythm, this poem strives for liberation in style, syllable and language, showing new characteristics:
Secondly, in syllable rhythm, we should get rid of the rigid bondage of old-style poems, such as rhyme, meter and even allusion. , and pay attention to the nature of music and not stick to rhyme. The syllables of poetry should have priority and cadence, just to satisfy the natural ups and downs of the poet's own emotions and the natural rhythm of his tone.