新詩和舊詩（舊體詩）孰優孰劣，在二十世紀中國文學學術界爭辯不休。革新者認為舊詩律嚴詞舊，乏時代社會色彩；守舊者認為新詩淺白放縱，甚或流於晦澀怪異。本文作者在肯定今人舊詩的價值之際，主張今人的舊詩，宜斟酌寫今事用今語，即《文心雕龍·通變》說的「酌於新聲」；在承認新詩自由而富時代感之際，主張新詩作者宜斟酌繼承舊詩的詩藝、詩教傳統，即「資於故實」。本文以香港詩人蘇文擢（1921-1997）為例，舉其〈九七謠〉〈長安居〉〈見聞十二首〉等舊體詩，析評之，指出其既「資於故實」又「酌於新聲」，為舊體詩帶來新氣象、新生命。本文並引述清末黃遵憲、梁啟超「流俗語」、「新語句」說，以為印證。

Controversies on the relative merits of old-style poetry (jiutishi) and new poetry (xinshi) have been in existence since the start of the 20th century. Reformists accuse old-style poetry by present-day writers of rigidity in prosody and lack of contemporary content and diction; conservatives are opposed to new poetry for its absence of artistic disciplines, its shallowness or its vagueness. In this essay, a number of old-style poems by Su Wenzhuo (1921-1997) are discussed to demonstrate that Su has followed the prosodic and rhetorical tradition of old-style poetry while using new diction in dealing with current affairs. This aptly illustrates the principles of ziyu gushi and zhuoyu xinsheng (aided by the literary tradition while making use of new voices) as advocated in the tongbian (tradition and change) chapter of Wenxin Diaolong (The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons), a great treatise in literary theory and criticism.