方回所選評的《瀛奎律髓》是一部相當有特色的早期唐宋律詩選本，該選期以「老杜格、江西法」，來廓清當時詩壇好尚雕琢的巧緻的晚唐詩風。《瀛奎律髓》所選七律以杜甫為中心，不僅數量多、評價高，同時把握了杜甫七律各時期的特質，使杜甫詩中高格得以為人所識，並呈顯出宗許渾晚唐之風過於巧緻而缺乏精神格力的弊病。在方回的提倡下，杜甫雄渾悲慨的詩體成為七律最高審美原則，奠定了七言律詩的寫作範式，對後世產生了相當深遠的影響，在對比明清各重要選本中對於杜詩的選錄，更可見《瀛奎律髓》之特色與意義。因此《瀛奎律髓》是杜詩經典化的過程中，以及在七律發展史上，至為重要的歷史環節。

Fang Hui’s Ying-kui Lyu-su (瀛奎律髓), an anthology that compiles regulatedverses of the Tang and the Song dynasties, distinguishes itself by championing Du Fu’s mellow gediao (格調，character and style) and the prosodic rules of Jiangxi poetic school. It does so in the hope of rectifying the overtly rhetorical mannerism à la the late Tang, which were evermore popular in the poetic society in Fang’s time. Ying-kui Lyu-su includes a large amount of Du Fu’s seven-syllable regulated verses, and, providing critiques with virtuoso sensibility, makes selections that well represent Du’s poetic achievements over his entire writing life. With suchclear designation, Du Fu’s lofty style was widely recognized and, as a contrast, Xu Hun’s enfeebled writings renounced. Indeed, it is because of Fang’s heralding promotion that Du’s poetic character of sublimity and pathos became the paragon of seven-syllable regulated verses ever since. In the history of seven-syllable regulated verses, and in the canonization of Du’s poetry, Fang’s Ying-kui Lyu-su plays a most important role, with which none of the subsequent anthologies compiled in the Ming or the Qing Dynasty can compare.