Literary achievements
Cao Cao has profound accomplishments in literature, calligraphy, music, etc. His literary achievements are mainly reflected in poetry, and his prose is also very distinctive.
Less than 20 of Cao Cao's poems are extant, all of which are in Yuefu style. Content can generally be divided into three categories. One type is related to current affairs, the other type is mainly about expressing ideals, and the other type is poems about immortals. Taizu had been in charge of the army for more than thirty years, and he never let go of his books. The book talks about military strategies, and the night is spent thinking about the classics. When you climb high, you must write poems and compose new poems, which will be orchestrated and turned into music. ("Book of Wei") Shangya loves poems, books and literature. Even though he is in the army, he can't let go of the scrolls. Every time I study, I calmly say: If a person is young and loves to learn, he will be specialized in thinking, and if he grows up, he will be good at forgetting. When he grows up, he can be a diligent scholar, only I and Yuan Boye are familiar with each other. ("Autobiography of Dianlun", Yuan Boye's name is left behind, Yuan Shaocong's brother.) Cao Gong is an upright man, and he has very sad words. (Zhong Rong's "Poetry")
Works that are somewhat related to current affairs include "Xing Dew Xing", "Xing Haoli", "Bitter Cold Xing", "Stepping out of Xiamen Xing", etc. The two poems "Xing Dew Xing" and "Hao Li Xing" were written in the early years of Jian'an. The former article reflects the failure of He Jin's plan to kill the eunuchs and Dong Zhuo's invasion of Luoyang to cause rebellion; the latter article describes the states and counties in Guandong raising troops to fight against Zhuo, each with their own ambitions and killing each other. The content is closely connected. The poem describes this historical process in a concise language at a high level, so it is known as "a true record of the late Han Dynasty and a true history of poetry" (Zhong Xing's "Return of Ancient Poems"). What is particularly valuable is that in the poem "Hao Li Xing", he used a sympathetic tone to write about the deep suffering suffered by the vast number of people during the war: "The armor is infested with lice, and thousands of people die, and the bones are exposed in the wild, thousands of miles away." The crow of the rooster is the only thing left for the people, and the thought of it is heartbreaking. ""Bitter Cold Journey" was written in the 11th year of Jian'an. The poem describes the severe cold, desolation, and precipitousness of the Taihang Mountains in winter. It is vivid and vivid, and it also expresses the poet's inner feelings. Mixed feelings. "Stepping out of Xiamen" was written in the twelfth year of Jian'an when he was conquering Wuhuan in three counties. The poem includes "Yan" (prelude) and four interpretations. "Yan" focuses on the poet's complicated mood when he went to war. The first interpretation of "Guan Canghai" describes the impressions when the army passed through Jieshi; the second interpretation of "Winter October" and the third interpretation of "Heshuohan" describe what he saw on the way back; the fourth interpretation of "Gui Sui Shou" describes the victory of this important battle. Ideological activities after the victory of the battle. Among them, "Guan Cang Sea" describes the scene of the sea, "The autumn wind is bleak, the waves are surging, the sun and the moon are as if they are out of it; the stars are brilliant, as if they are out of it", the majestic momentum and the majestic style reflect the poet's tolerance of the universe and his words. The broad mind of Sun and Moon. "The Turtle is Shou" uses a series of vivid metaphors to express the poet's views on life and career: "The old man is in trouble, but his ambition is thousands of miles, and the martyr is still ambitious in his old age." This is a true expression of the poet's lifelong positive and enterprising spirit.
Poems that mainly express ideals include "Duguan Mountain", "Duijiu", "Dan Ge Xing", etc. The first two articles deal with the poet's political ideals. The peaceful and prosperous age he envisioned was a politics of virtuous kings and good ministers that combined Confucianism and Legalism and used both grace and authority. This is undoubtedly of progressive significance in the context of the great social destruction in the late Han Dynasty. The theme of "Dan Ge Xing" is seeking talents. It uses poems such as "The mountains never get too high, the water never gets too deep, the Duke of Zhou spits out food, and the world returns to its heart" to express the desire to seek talents and recruit talents in order to achieve great things.
The poems about wandering immortals include "Qi Chu Sing", "Qiu Hu Xing" and so on. Cao Cao did not believe in the alchemist's theory of immortality, so he wrote these poems for a different purpose. He should not be equated with the Qin Emperor and Han Wu's pursuit of immortality based on this.
In terms of artistic style, Cao Cao's poems are simple and unadorned, without any decoration. They win with deep emotions and majestic charm. The mood of the poem is characterized by generosity and sadness. Generous and sad, this is originally the common theme of Jian'an literature, but in Cao Cao's poems, it is the most typical and prominent. In terms of poetry genre, Cao Cao's Yuefu poems did not copy the conventions of Han Yuefu, but developed somewhat. For example, "Xing Dew Xing" and "Hao Li Xing" are both elegy in Han Yuefu, but he used old titles to express brand-new content. Cao Cao initiated the tradition of using Yuefu to write about current affairs, which had a profound influence. The large number of Yuefu poems written by Jian'an writers and many poets from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty can be said to be the inheritance and development of this tradition.
Cao Cao's prose is mostly practical writing, which can be roughly divided into three categories: tables, orders, and books.
His representative works include "Please add Guo Jia's enfeoffment list", "Let the county self-explain the original chronicle", "Revise the book with the king", "Sacrifice the late Taiwei Qiao Xuanwen", etc. The common characteristics of these words are simplicity, richness, straightforwardness and smoothness, which express Cao Cao's unique voice. For example, "Rangxian Ziming Benzhi Ling" recounts most of his life's struggle experience, analyzes the situation at that time, and analyzes his own ambitions. He writes such words as "If there is no one in the country, I don't know how many people will be called emperors and how many people will be called kings." Be extremely candid and courageous. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, there has been a trend of parallelism in prose, which gradually became apparent at the end of the Han Dynasty; generally prose writers began to pay attention to parallelism and allusion. However, Cao Cao was unique at the time with his easy, practical and concise style of writing. Lu Xun once praised Cao Cao as "the founder of reforming articles" ("Wei and Jin Styles and the Relationship between Articles, Medicine and Wine").
Cao Cao's literary achievements are also reflected in his constructive role in Jian'an literature (see the Seven Sons of Jian'an). Jian'an literature was able to flourish in the context of long-term war and social ruin, and at the same time His attention and promotion are inseparable. When Liu Xie discussed the reasons for the prosperity of literature in Jian'an, he once pointed out that "Wei Wu regarded the prime minister as the king and loved his poems elegantly" ("Wen Xin Diao Long Preface"). In fact, all the major writers of the Jian'an period were closely related to him. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were his sons, and the "Seventh Son" and Cai Yan also relied on his protection. It can be said that the "Ye literati group" was formed on the basis of the material conditions he provided; and their creations were also carried out under the influence of his advocacy.
Cao Cao’s writings, according to the textual research of Yao Zhenzong of the Qing Dynasty’s "Three Kingdoms Art and Literature", include more than ten kinds of works, including 1 volume in 30 volumes of "Collection of Emperor Wu of Wei", 13 volumes of "Book of War", etc. However, most of them have been lost, and those that survive today Only "Sun Zi's Notes". Zhang Pu of the Ming Dynasty compiled 145 scattered poems and articles into the Collection of Emperor Wu of the Wei Dynasty, which was included in the Collection of One Hundred and Three Families of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. Ding Fubao's "Collection of Famous Masters of Han, Wei and Six Dynasties" also includes "Collection of Emperor Wu of Wei", which contains slightly more works than Zhang Pu's collection. In 1959, Zhonghua Book Company based on Ding Fu's preservation of the original version, slightly organized and supplemented it, added "Sun Zi's Notes", and attached "Wei Zhi; Emperor Wu Ji", "Chronology of Cao Cao", etc., and reprinted it as "Collection of Cao Cao"