中宗朝已开始将王勃、杨炯、卢照邻、骆宾王视为一个文学群体，并称四人为“四杰”“四才子”，包括四杰在内的时人虽有就排名问题进行讨论，但较为零散，未成定论。自宋以降，“王杨”“卢骆”多两两组合排列，后或因“平前仄后”的发音习惯确定为“王杨卢骆”。受张说、刘肃杜撰的“裴行俭评四杰”一事影响，唐、宋多有因“重器识而轻文艺”的选官标准轻薄贬低四杰的情况。杜甫最先从诗文批评的立场为四杰正名，将四杰视作唐代文学发展历程中承前启后的关键一环。随着古人对诗文发展阶段的认识不断深入，王、杨、卢、骆四人上接齐梁传统、下启盛唐气象的文学观念以及写作实践逐渐得到挖掘、认可，四杰最终成为与沈宋、陈子昂并肩的初唐文坛代表人物。

The Zhongzong Dynasty first began to regard Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang as a literary group, and called them "four outstanding men" or "four talented men". Although people including the four outstanding men discussed the issue of ranking, those discussions were scattered and inconclusive. Since the Song Dynasty, "Wang Yang" and "Lu Luo" frequently appeared as pairs. Later, maybe because of the pronunciation habit of "flat front and narrow back", they were identified as "Wang Yang Lu Luo". Influenced by Zhang Shuo and Liu Su's "Pei Xingjian's comments on the four outstanding men", there were many cases in Tang and Song Dynasties where the official selection criteria of "valuing morality but belittling literature and art" was used to belittle the "four outstanding men". Du Fu was the first to rectify the fame of the "four outstanding men" from the standpoint of poetry criticism, and regarded them as a key link in the development of literature in the Tang Dynasty. With the deepening of the people's understanding of the development stage of poetry and prose, Wang, Yang, Lu and Luo's literary ideas and writing practice of inheriting Qi and Liang traditions and ushering in Tang literature got recognition. Finally, the four talents became the representatives, side by side with Shen, Song and Chen Zi'ang, of the literary circle of the early Tang Dynasty.