📖 Meaning
It refers to the two core functions of poetry and prose: vividly describing external objects (体物) and expressing genuine inner feeling (缘情). The idiom describes writing that both portrays the world concretely and conveys heartfelt emotion. It is used to praise literature that unites observation with feeling.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the Western Jin dynasty writer and critic Lu Ji, in his famous 《文赋》 ("Essay on Literature"). He wrote, "诗缘情而绮靡，赋体物而浏亮" — poetry stems from emotion and is ornately beautiful, while the fu genre depicts things and is bright and lucid. Lu Ji, a leading literary theorist of his day, used the line to distinguish the essential strengths of each genre. Later readers combined the two ideas into 体物缘情 to describe fine writing that both renders the world and expresses the self.
💡 Example Usage
他的散文体物缘情，读来令人动容。
His prose vividly depicts the world and expresses heartfelt emotion; reading it moves one deeply.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 体物缘情
- Pinyin: tǐ wù yuán qíng
- Literal Translation: depict, things, follow from, emotion
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4