文学作品中能够生发深远意旨和审美情境的物象，是创作者主观情感与客观景象完美融合而产生的一种艺术境界。“兴”指作者偶然生发的创作冲动，“象”则是指作者在作品中所借助的外在的具体物象。“兴象”是唐代诗论家殷璠在《河岳英灵集序》中用来品评盛唐诗人作品的用语，后来演变成诗歌评论的“兴象观”，用以衡量作品境界的高下。

Inspiring imagery is an artistic achievement of profound literary significance and with great aesthetic taste, obtained through the perfect blending of an author's feelings with an objective situation or scenery. Xing (兴) is an impromptu inspiration of the author, and xiang (象) a material object he borrows from the external world in his writing. Tang-dynasty poetry critic Yin Fan first used the term "inspiring imagery" in his "Preface to 'A Collection of Poems by Distinguished Poets'" in commenting on the works of poets in the golden period of the Tang Dynasty. It later became a standard for assessing the merit of a poetic work.

引例 Citations：

◎既多兴象，复备风骨。（殷璠《河岳英灵集序》）

诗人的作品既有许多兴象，又具备了风骨之美。

These poets' works feature both inspiring imagery, as well as fenggu (class and integrity). (Yin Fan: Preface to A Collection of Poems by Distinguished Poets)

◎作诗大要不过二端：体格声调、兴象风神而已。（胡应麟《诗薮》）

作诗大体上有两个方面：体制与声律，兴象与气韵。

Poetry has two basic aspects: one includes form, rhythm, and rhyme; the other includes imagery and charm. (Hu Yinglin: An In-Depth Exploration of Poetry)

（推荐：教育部 国家语委 供稿：北京外国语大学 外语教学与研究出版社）