There are several different forms of classical poetry, such as ancient poetry (also known as ancient poetry and ancient style), modern poetry (also known as modern poetry and metrical poetry), ci (also known as short poems, long and short sentences, qu ci and qu ci) and qu.
Classical poetry is an ancient free poem, which is free in form, length, infinitive (referring to miscellaneous words) and rhyme. Including four-character poems (first appeared in the Book of Songs), five-character poems (matured in Han Dynasty, such as Nineteen Ancient Poems) and seven-character poems (matured in Tang Dynasty, such as Song of Eternal Sorrow).
Modern poetry flourished in the Tang Dynasty, except for the arrangement of rhyme. There are two kinds of poems: quatrains and metrical poems, which are divided into five-character quatrains (five sentences) and seven-character quatrains (seven sentences), and metrical poems are divided into five-character metrical poems (five sentences), seven-character metrical poems (seven sentences) and the arrangement of rhymes.
Ci was very popular in the Song Dynasty. According to the number of words, it can be divided into three forms: Xiao Ling (within 58 words), Zhong Diao (within 59-90 words) and Long Diao (above 9 1 word). The tune of words has a fixed frame, sentences have a fixed number, words have a fixed tone and rhyme has a fixed position.
Qu Xingsheng was born in Yuan Dynasty, and there are two forms: Sanqu and Zaju. Sanqu also has two forms: poem (short tune) and set number (also called "set song").