杜甫之前，七言律詩處於草創時期，最常見的章法，是以中間四句寫景或四句敘事的格式來進行，這種格式的缺點是，容易偏倚於外間景物的描寫，或表相的對偶，不容易呈現詩人主體我的存在，杜甫七律新格顯然改革了這項缺失。杜甫一生的七言律詩中，雖有不少是沿用上述前人傳下的章法，不過，他很快地就在前人成法之外，開創了一套穩定的七律格式，新格式的特點就是，重視主體我的實際參與，整首詩都是以詩人自已的身體動作，來主導詩意的進行；詩人先自定一個題目範疇，然後主動地進入詩中，進行一連串的動作，這些動作都與人類身體的自然律動相符，每個動作都按既定的程序運行，直到完成一首詩。這種以既定程序來寫作七律的觀念，就是「規格化」，杜甫規格化以後的七律章法格式，可名之為「杜甫七律新格」。

The most common writing strategy of the seven-words-eight-sentences poetry before Du Fu, as in its initial stage, was in favor of narration or scenery description with the middle four sentences of the poetry. The shortcoming of such form lies in external description and exterior antithesis at the cost of the existence of poet's subjective self. Obiviously this shortcoming was amended with Du Fu's new strategy of writing. During Du Fu's lifetime, many of his seven-words-eight-sentences poems were written with strategies of former writers. However, not for long he established of his own a stable style for seven-words-eight-sentences poetry. The feature of the new style consists in the subjective engagement of the poet himself. In the whole poetry, the poet directs the procession of the contention with the movement of his body. During his writing, the poet proposes a range with the title of the poem first, then he enters his poem with a series of action which corresponds to the natural rhythm of body movements. Each of the movements follows the determined procedure until the poem is completed. I call "formalization" the concept of writing seven-words-eight-sentences poetry with established procedure, and "Du Fu's new style of seven-words-eight-sentences poetry" the ensueing writing strategy and style.