Abstract: The idea of "flexible method" in composting ci-poetry in the Song Dynasty has two essential elements of "rule" and "change," and this idea embodies the pursuit of literary innovation in the Song Dynasties. It is an important part of the poetic theory and has profound influence on the literary evolution in the Song Dynasties. The style-breaking methods such as "composing ci-poems like regulated poems" and "composing ci-poems like prose" were in effect the proliferation of the idea of "flexible method" in the field of ci-poetics. There has been much elucidation in the Song and Yuan commentaries on ci-poetry that echoes the idea of style-breaking, and those ci-poets who excelled in style-breaking were mostly influenced by the idea of flexible method. Style-breaking not only raised the artistic realm but also enriched the means of artistic expression of ci-poem, corresponding to the "flexible method" in terms of conception and practice of ci-poem composition, while the acceptance of the idea reflected the its influence in poetics in the Song Dynasty.

Key words: flexible method, Song-Dynasty ci-poetry, style-breaking