Bao Zhao 鮑照 (414?-66) is known mainly as a yuefu 樂府 poet in Chinese literary history. Versed in traditional literary genres, he also showed a strong interest in popular contemporary songs. In fact, he was a pioneer in imitating Wu 吳 songs and western tunes, which refer to popular songs from the areas centered on Jiankang 建康 (modem Nanjing, Jiangsu) and Jiangling 江陵 (modem Jiangling, Hubei) respectively. Another striking fact about Bao Zhao is that he is the poet with the largest extant corpus of poems in heptasyl-labic lines and ancient quatrains before the Liu Song 劉宋 period. How do we explain this phenomenon besides attributing its cause to individual talent and taste? In this article, I shall begin by describing the political milieu in which Bao Zhao lived and then investigate how his patrons’ taste may have influenced his poetry. This article will center on exploring two major poetic styles, the seven-syllable form and the ancient quatrain and their significance in Bao Zhao’s poetry.