沈德潛《唐詩別裁集》〈凡例〉表明「是集以李、杜為宗」以杜甫為詩教典範，已人所共知，然如何「以李白為宗」，歷來少有研究。本文依據沈氏「既審其宗旨，復觀其體裁，徐諷其音節」的選詩標準作為研究進路：就「審宗旨」而言，沈德潛推崇李白婉而多諷之作，並點撥李詩對於人情物理的體察，藉評點李詩建立詩教之尊。就「論格調」而言，沈氏指出李白古詩有復古與縱橫馳驟兩類，而後者尤為沈氏標舉的「鯨魚碧海」、「巨刃摩天」等雄渾詩風提供範式；律體以古筆為之，逸氣凌雲；五絕高妙，七絕為「言微旨遠，語淺情深」之典範。由此得知，李詩之所以成為沈德潛建構詩學理論的典範，源於他詩歌中「含蓄蘊藉」（深遠）與「天才奇特」（宕逸）兩個特質。婉道無窮向風雅傳統回歸，逸氣縱橫則開拓詩的創作界域。李白的指標性意義，當由此理解。

In the preface to his Tangshi biecai ji (唐詩別裁集Anthology of Tang Poetry), Shen Deqian 沈德潛 clearly states that his standard for selecting poetry for inclusion in the collection is the poetry of Li Bai 李白 and Du Fu 杜甫. It is well established that Shen Deqian regards Du Fu's poetry as a model of tactful, indirect criticism. His comments on Li Bai's poetry and reasons for his selection, however, are not well studied. Shen Deqian highly praises the way Li Bai euphemistically expresses his deepest emotions in his poetry. There are three key points with respect to Shen's discussion of the form of Li Bai's poetry. First, he includes more of Li Bai's seven-syllable quatrains (七言絕句) in the anthology than of any other poet because he feels that Li Bai is best able express his deepest emotions vividly and concisely, which is considered to be a goal of all poets. Second , though Li Bai's regulated verse (律詩) is often not antithetical or resembles prose, Shen Deqian nevertheless accepts Li's approach and considers it another form of regulated verse . Third, Li Bai's old-style poetry (古體詩) is a prime example of the wild and unconstrained style praised by Shen.