Like the morning dew, there are too many lost days!
Source: Cao Cao, the author of "Dan Ge Xing", Wei and Jin dynasties
Original text: Drinking and singing, what is life! Like morning dew, it will be more painful every day. Generosity should be shown as generosity, and worries will be unforgettable. How to relieve worries? Only Du Kang. Qingqing Zijin, my heart is leisurely. But for your sake, I still ponder it. Yo yo deer roar, eat wild apples. I have guests who play the harp and sheng.
It’s as bright as the moon, when can you wipe it off? Worry comes from it and cannot be cut off. The more unfamiliar you are, the more you cross the border, the more useless you are. Qi Kuo Tan?, thinking about old kindness. The moon and stars are sparse, and magpies fly south. Three twists and turns around the tree, where is the branch to lean on? The mountains never get too high and the sea never gets too deep. The Duke of Zhou vomits food, and the world returns to its heart.
Translation:
Singing loudly in front of the wine, life is short and the days and months fly by. Just like the morning dew, it is fleeting and there are too many lost days! The singing at the banquet was passionate and generous, and melancholy filled my heart for a long time. What can you rely on to relieve depression? Only binge drinking can provide relief. Students wearing blue collars, you make me yearn for you day and night. It’s just because of you that I still recite it in pain.
Under the sunshine, the deer chirped happily and ate leisurely on the green slope. Once talented people from all over the world come to my house, I will play the harp and the sheng to entertain the guests. When will I be able to pick up the bright moon hanging in the sky? The sorrow and anger I have stored in my heart suddenly spurt out and form a river. Guests from far away came to visit me one by one along the field paths.
Reunited after a long separation, we had a banquet and talked freely, vying to tell the story of the friendship from the past. The moonlight was bright and the stars were sparse, and a group of nesting magpies flew south. They flew around the tree for three weeks without folding their wings. Where can they find shelter? The mountains are majestic only if they do not abandon the earth and rocks, and the sea is majestic only if it does not abandon the trickling water. I wish to be as courteous and virtuous as the Duke of Zhou, and wish that all the heroes in the world would sincerely submit to me.
Extended information:
"Dan Ge Xing" belongs to the Yuefu Xianghe Ge Ciping tune and is a movement sung at banquets. Judging from the content and emotions of this poem, one is the worry about unfulfilled ambitions and the future of life, and the other is the desire for the Duke of Zhou to express his gratitude and be courteous to the virtuous. It can be speculated that Cao Cao was getting older and his ambitions were hindered by this time, but he still did not forget his grand ambition of "returning the world to its heart". According to this, "Dan Ge Xing" was probably composed between the 19th year of Jian'an (214) and the 22nd year of Jian'an (217).
The structure of "Dan Ge Xing" is rigorous, and the poetic meaning emerges step by step and progresses layer by layer. The whole poem has eight lines on one level, and is divided into four levels: the eight lines on the first level, "Singing to Wine," which begins with wine, and writes the reasons for seeking talents; the eight lines on the second level, "Qing Qing Zi Jin," writes about the relationship between talents and talents. Longing; the eight sentences "Mingming is like the moon" on the third layer describe the difficulty of finding true talents; the fourth layer writes about sincerity and courtesy, which is the key to finding talents, making "the world return to its heart" and achieving great ambitions.
"Two Short Songs" are two poems written by Cao Cao, a statesman and writer in the late Han Dynasty, based on ancient Yuefu inscriptions. The first poem uses the singing of a banquet to express the poet's thirst for talents and his ambition to unify the world in a calm and frustrated style; the second poem praises the historical events of King Wen of Zhou, Duke Huan of Qi, and Duke Wen of Jin for adhering to ministerial integrity. , stating that he only had the ambition to help the Han Dynasty, and had no intention of being independent on behalf of the Han Dynasty.
The two poems are a perfect combination, solemn and elegant, profound in content, and full of emotion. Their political content and significance are completely melted into the rich lyrical artistic conception, fully demonstrating Cao Cao's personality, education, ambitions and ideals, and fully demonstrating His poems are majestic, profound and elegant.
Cao Cao is a calligrapher of his generation but little known. This is mainly due to the fact that there are few calligraphy works handed down by Cao Cao. "Book Review of the Tang Dynasty" said: "Cao Cao's calligraphy is like a fine golden flower, scattered all over the place, the jade and jade are divided into brilliance, and the jade is as bright as a dazzling flower." Zhang Hua, Sikong of the Western Jin Dynasty, said in "Natural History": "In the Han Dynasty, Anping Cui Yuan, Yuan Zizhen, Hongnong Zhang Zhi, and Zhi Di Chang were all good at cursive calligraphy, and Taizu was inferior to them."
Yu Jianwu, a calligraphy critic of the Southern Dynasties, listed Cao Cao's calligraphy works as "the best in calligraphy" in his "Shu Pin", calling it "Li Mo Xiong Zhan". Zhang Huaiguan, a calligrapher and critic of the Tang Dynasty, said in his calligraphy review monograph "Shuguan" that Cao Cao was "especially good at Zhangcao, which is unrivaled in majesty" and rated his Zhangcao works as masterpieces. From this point of view, although Cao Cao's calligraphy works cannot be classified as divine or top-grade, they are among the most famous calligraphers in the country.
There are historical records that Cao Cao often competed with calligraphers Zhong Yao, Liang Hu, Handan Chun, Wei Dan, Sun Tzu Jing and others on calligraphy. He especially liked to appreciate Liang Hu's calligraphy, and once gave the special Five Spirit Pill to Zhong Yao who vomited blood because he was refused to borrow Cai Yong's "Brushwork" from Wei Dan.
Although Cao Cao was good at calligraphy, he probably had no chance to write because he was busy with war and political affairs, so very few of his ink writings have been handed down to the world. In Song Zhengqiao's "Tongzhi·Jinshilue", only one "Daxi Stele" written by Cao Cao was included; in Ming Dynasty Yang Shen's "Danqian Zonglu", he only mentioned that there was also "Daxi Stele" written by Cao Cao in the Yuan Dynasty. "He Jie Biao"; Qing Ye Yibao said in "Inscriptions and Stones" that Cao Cao once wrote the three characters "Yongyue Platform" in Wuchang's "Yellow Crane Tower", which was extremely large, majestic and energetic, and was written in official script.
When Cao Cao was conquering Hanzhong, the word "Gun Xue" was written on a large stone in the Bao River south of Shimen. It has now been moved to the Hanzhong Museum. The word "Gun Xue" found at "Cao Cao's Underground Troop Transport Road" in Bozhou was inscribed on rubbings; the two small characters in official script above were inscribed "King of Wei". Because they were straightforward and unclear, they were imitated by later generations. question.
Reference material: Baidu Encyclopedia - Two Tank Songs