Her birthplace is Chang'an. In her poems she writes about the frustration of educated women, who were not allowed to have a career, nor were they accepted by men as intellectual equals. The Huaiqing Tang ji contains over 200 of her poems. She also wrote three chuanqi plays; Fanhua meng (Dream of Glory), Quan fu ji (Complete Happiness) and You xian meng (A Dream Visit to the Immortals).

父王元常，乾隆十三年（1748年）進士，曾官直隸武邑、永清等縣知縣，工詩，為官亦不廢吟詠。王筠自幼穎異，十三四歲即工詩詞。適同邑王氏，夫早逝，王筠撫子百齡長大成人，並激勵道：「吾於汝家長貧作苦，所望者為進士女復為進士母耳」。嘉慶七年（1802年），百齡亦成進士。

王筠詩詞收入《槐慶堂集》，且與父元常、子百齡合刊有《西園瓣香集》。其編寫戲曲也頗有造詣，現存傳奇《繁華夢》、《全福記》。另有《遊仙夢》、《會仙記》等。