This term is used in literary criticism to refer to a poetic style marked by the plainness and simplicity of wording and by a leisurely quietude. Despite its seeming sterility, such a style is full of life’s potentialities and possesses a profound appeal. This echoes the author’s mild and placid temperament, showing his mental attitude and spiritual realm of life after he has gone through life’s hardships and struggles – a natural expression of feeling which transcends all forms of verbal articulation and all rules of writing. As an aesthetic notion, quiet elegance has not only influenced artistic creation but also shaped the spiritual being of men of letters, helping to cultivate their outlook on life.

Fabrication and absurdity are mistaken for loftiness and primitive simplicity, and languidness for quiet elegance. (Shi Jiaoran: Poetic Styles)

In the early Tang period, Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Shen Quanqi, and Song Zhiwen were the only ones who enjoyed widespread renown, yet none of them had freed themselves of the obsession with formal beauty pursued by poets of the Qi-Liang era. Chen Zi’ang alone argued for quiet elegance in poetry, making a clean sweep of the cloying sentimentality of the Six Dynasties. After that, the style of poetry shifted toward that of the Huangchu and Jian’an eras of the Wei Kingdom. (Liu Kezhuang: Houcun’s Poetic Remarks)

Tao Yuanming’s poetry has remained unrivaled because of its quiet elegance, profundity and purity. It fully shows his natural feelings. (Yang Shi: Collected Works of Yang Shi)