The structure and style of shi and fu poetry

Ancient poems were defined as such after the Tang Dynasty, and preceded recent poems. They differ mainly in the fact that the latter came after the former, hence the designations. Nevertheless, even after the recent poems started to be written there were still lots of people writing in the ancient style. Modern-style poetry is a type of poetry which took shape in the early Tang Dynasty. It evolved from ancient-style poetry, and can be divided into the two categories of regulated verse and quatrains. The earliest poet to discuss the word styles of shi and fu poetry was Cao Pi. He picks out the word beauty in describing the important trait of shi and fu poetry. Shi poetry can have four, five or seven characters to the verse, and is divided into ancient and modern styles. These differences also imply differences of style. Five-character regulated verse is the shortest of the modern-style poem a ballad genre.