The difference between Tang poetry and Song poetry lies in the difference of subject matter and content. Tang poetry focuses on political themes, paying attention to the rise and fall of the country, the sufferings of people's livelihood, ambition and the ups and downs of the official sea, and expressing the feelings of social groups. A remarkable feature of the theme of Song poetry is that it mainly describes the parting of lovesickness, and mostly expresses the author's personal feelings.

As for Tang and Song poetry, from the middle Tang Dynasty, Tang poetry has a tendency to evolve to the late Song Dynasty. Many features of Song poetry can be found in Du Fu's and Han Yu's poems. Judging from the whole history of poetry, Song poetry is the inevitable result of the development of Tang poetry. Tang poetry and Song poetry come down in one continuous line.

Any innovation in Song poetry is based on Tang poetry. The dismal management of Song people aims to open up a new realm beyond the aesthetic realm of Tang poetry. Compared with Tang poetry, many poets in the Song Dynasty have new styles. For example, the plainness of Mei, the delicacy of Wang Anshi, the fluency of Su Shi, the thinness and simplicity of Huang Tingjian and the liveliness of Yang Wanli can all be regarded as the result of the unfamiliarity of Tang poetry style. However, there is a holistic style pursuit in the poetry circle of Song Dynasty, that is, plain is beautiful.