In the new context of “visual turn”, visual media participate in shaping the ecology of modern Chinese poetry, and visual communication has become an important form of modern poetry’s communication. The adjustment of the relationship between language and picture constitutes a great challenge to the development of literature. The difference between the nature of literature and photography results in the conflict between the two ideographic symbols in photographic literature, and the tension between images and characters constitutes the endogenous power for the exploration of photographic literature. Broadly speaking, “the tradition of poetry and painting” can be regarded as the history of the interaction between poetry art and visual art. In the close interaction between poetry and photography, we can draw out the latent clues of the variation inheritance of the artistic tradition of poetry and painting. In the “poetic schema” of photographic poetry, we can still recognize the traces of the evolution of the traditional schema. For modern poets, the traditional art of poetry and painting is a form that can be used as a mirror. The revival and continuation of the tradition of poetry and painting is the active choice for modern poets to promote the visual communication of modern poetry. In order to improve the communication effect of poetry with the help of images, we should alleviate the between literature and images, and avoid the loss of poetic flavor and the lack of deep meaning.