Knowing that his brother meant to kill him, Zhi was sad and angry. He wrote a poem in seven steps and read it out on the spot.
"Seven Steps Poetry", which uses seeds and beans from the same root as a metaphor for half-brothers, and uses seeds and beans as a metaphor for brothers killing their younger brothers, vividly and simply reflects the cruel struggle within the feudal ruling group and the poet's own difficult situation and depressed and resentful feelings.
Original extended information:
Boiled beans are used as soup and fermented into juice.
Honey burns under the pot, and beans cry in the pot.
We are born from the same root, so why rush to speculate with each other?
Translation:
Cook beans to make bean soup. I want to filter out the residue of beans and leave the bean juice for soup.
The beanstalk burns under the pot, and the beans cry in the pot.
Beans and beanstalks originally grew on the same root. How can beanstalk torture beans in such a hurry?
This poem is written in a purely figurative way. The language is simple and the meaning is clear, so there is no need for further explanation. Just a little dredging in individual words and phrases, its significance is self-evident. The first four sentences describe the phenomenon of burning beans in daily life. Cao Zhi used the word "bean" as a metaphor, and the word "cry" fully expressed the sadness and pain of the victims.
"Douchi" in the second sentence refers to Douchi that has been filtered and cooked to make sauce. "Fen" refers to beanstalk, which is dried and used as firewood. The powder is cooked with beans from the same root. Metaphor brothers are too tight, give up on themselves and violate heaven, which is naturally unacceptable.
The poet's clever metaphor and clever language blurted out in an instant, which was really amazing. The last two sentences express Cao Zhi's inner grief, obviously questioning Cao Pi: You and I are brothers. Why are you pushing so hard?
For thousands of years, it has become a common language to persuade brothers not to kill each other, which shows that this poem is widely spread among the people.
This poem takes fried beans as a metaphor to accuse Cao Pi of cruel persecution of himself and other brothers. The tone is euphemistic and deep, and there are reminders and exhortations in sarcasm. On the one hand, this reflects Cao Zhi's cleverness, on the other hand, it also reflects Cao Pi's cruelty in persecuting his brothers and sisters.
The beauty of this poem lies in its clever metaphor and clear meaning. Beans and beanstalks are born from the same root, just like brothers. When the beanstalk burns, cook the beans in the pot and "cry". This metaphor is very touching, very touching.
The style of this poem is not consistent with other poems in Cao Zhi's poetry collection. Because it was made in a hurry, it is far from the tempering of language and the exquisiteness of images. It has won the appreciation of readers for thousands of years with appropriate vivid metaphors and clear and profound meanings.
About the author: Cao Zhi was a famous writer in the Three Kingdoms period. As one of the representatives and epitomizers of Jian 'an literature, he was promoted to the position of an article model in the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
His representative works include Luo Shen Fu, White Horse, Seven Wounded Poems, etc. Because of his literary attainments, later generations are called "Three Caos" with Cao Cao and Cao Pi. His poems are famous for their vigorous brushwork and gorgeous words, and there are 30 volumes left, which have been lost. Today, The Collection of Cao Zijian was compiled by Song people.
Cao Zhi's prose also has the characteristics of "appealing to both refined and popular tastes and elegant style", and its genre is rich and diverse, which makes him make outstanding achievements in this respect. Xie Lingyun, a writer in the Southern Song Dynasty, commented that "there is only one stone in the world, and Cao Zijian monopolizes eight fights". Zhong Rong, a literary critic, also praised Cao Zhi for his "extraordinary personality, colorful words, elegant feelings, elegant posture and outstanding style of writing."
He is listed as the poet with the highest quality of poetry. Wang Shizhen evaluated the poets who have lived for two thousand years since the Han and Wei Dynasties as "immortals", including Cao Zhi, Li Bai and Su Shi.