Listen to this articlewǎnyuēpài 婉约派
Wanyue School / Graceful and Restrained School
宋词两大流派之一。内容多写儿女之情、离别之绪，其特点是“专主情致”，表情达意讲究含蓄柔婉、隐约细腻，音律婉转谐和，语言圆润清丽。婉约词出现较早，名家辈出，唐五代有温庭筠、李煜，宋初有欧阳修、晏殊、晏几道、柳永，之后又有秦观、贺铸、周邦彦、李清照，南宋则有姜夔、吴文英、张炎等一大批词人。在一千多年的词学发展中，婉约词风支配词坛，无论是数量还是质量，婉约派都占据主流和正统地位。需要说明的是，婉约派词人也抒写感时伤世之情，只是多将家国之恨、身世之感寓于抒情咏物，别有寄托，故不能一概以柔媚视之。
As one of the two ci (词) lyric schools of the Song Dynasty, the graceful and restrained school mainly dealt with romantic love or parting sorrow. It featured sentimental and nuanced expression of one’s feelings, graceful and melodious metric patterning, and mellow and subtle use of language. Ci lyrics of this school emerged early, and many poets were famed for writing this style of ci, especially Wen Tingyun and Li Yu of the Five Dynasties period, Ouyang Xiu, Yan Shu, Yan Jidao, Liu Yong, Qin Guan, He Zhu, Zhou Bangyan, and Li Qingzhao of the Northern Song Dynasty, as well as Jiang Kui, Wu Wenying, and Zhang Yan of the Southern Song Dynasty. The graceful and restrained school occupied a dominant position in terms of both quantity and quality in over one thousand years of poetry’s development. It should be mentioned that poets of this school also cared deeply about the fate of the nation, but they tended to express their concerns in a personal and sentimental way, often through depicting scenery. Therefore, their poems should not be regarded as lacking of vigor and energy.
引例 Citations：
◎至论其词，则有婉约者，有豪放者。婉约者欲其辞情蕴藉，豪放者欲其气象恢弘，盖虽各因其质，而词贵感人，要当以婉约为正。（徐师曾《文体明辨序说》）
（至于说到词，则有婉约风格的，有豪放风格的。婉约词其词句和情感追求含蓄而有意蕴，豪放词则追求气魄和境界宏大壮阔。这虽然是词作者的气质不同所致，但是词讲究以情动人，大体还是应该以婉约为正宗。）
Some ci lyrics are graceful and restrained, and some are bold and exuberant. The former are written in a nuanced way, whereas the latter are powerful and unrestrained. This difference is due to different temperament of poets. But ci lyrics are about expressing one’s nuanced feelings, so the graceful and restrained school is representative of ci lyrics. (Xu Shizeng: A Collection of Introductory Remarks on Various Styles)
◎易安为婉约主，幼安为豪放主，此论非明代诸公所及。（沈曾植《菌阁琐谈》）
（李清照是婉约词第一人，辛弃疾是豪放词第一人，这一见解明代诸位评论家并未提及。）
Li Qingzhao was the best ci poetess of the graceful and restrained school, whereas Xin Qiji was the best of the bold and exuberant school. This view, important as it is, was not mentioned by literary critics of the Ming Dynasty.(Shen Zengzhi: Random Notes on Ci Lyrics from the Junge Studio)
