Tang poetry can be divided into two categories: classical poetry and modern poetry. The difference between these two categories is the difference in genre. That is to say, modern poetry pays attention to meter, especially to level and level. Classical poetry doesn't pay much attention to meter, and it doesn't require even-handed confrontation. (Of course, this is a very rough statement. )
Modern poetry is a kind of metrical poetry, which began to sprout in Qi and Liang Dynasties and was formally formed in the early Tang Dynasty. It is characterized in that:
(1) The number of words is fixed. Modern poetry includes metrical poems and quatrains. There are eight metrical poems and four quatrains, and the number of words is limited. There are also "three-rhyme poems", but they are rare. There is also the so-called "arranged poem", the number of sentences can be more than eight, with a maximum of 1560 rhyme (more than 300 sentences), but the number of sentences is even.
(2) Rhyme is strict. This means: a poem must rhyme to the end, and it can't change rhyme in the middle; A poem must use rhyming words, and rhyming is not allowed; Generally, only flat rhyme is used.
(3) Pay attention to levelness.
(4) Pay attention to antithesis.
The first two points (3) and (4) are the essential features of modern poetry.
Classical poetry is relative to modern poetry. As a genre, classical poetry is characterized by not paying much attention to meter. All poems must pay attention to some meter, such as rhyme, which is a kind of meter. The character is relatively neat (four, five or seven characters), which is also a kind of meter. These factors are all possessed by classical poetry, so we can't say that classical poetry doesn't talk about meter at all. However, the metrical requirements of classical poetry are not as strict as those of modern poetry, that is, the requirements of modern poetry mentioned above in terms of words, rhyme, balance and antithesis cannot be met by classical poetry. That is to say,
(1) The number of words and sentences is not limited, and it can be four, five, seven words or miscellaneous words; It can be at least two sentences, such as Fu Xuan's Miscellaneous Words; Up to more than 300 sentences, such as ***357 sentences in ancient poems for Jiao Zhongqing's wife.
(2) Rhyme is not strict, and it can be changed, rhymed, rhymed or even rhymed.
(3) Don't talk about leveling.
(4) Don't talk about confrontation.
Classical poetry is also called ancient poetry. As a genre, poems before the appearance of modern poetry, including The Book of Songs, Songs of the South, Seven-character Poems of Han Yuefu, Five Dynasties and Han and Wei Dynasties, can all be called classical poems or ancient poems. After the appearance of modern poetry in the Tang Dynasty, poets in the Tang Dynasty continued to write such poems, including four-character poems and five-character poems, without paying attention to meter.