Cao Cao's poems written by Cao Cao were greatly influenced by Yuefu, and all the existing poems are Yuefu songs. Although these poems follow the old theme of Yuefu, they do not follow the poems of the ancients, and are not bound by other ways. Instead, they inherit the spirit of "feeling sadness and joy, born of things". For example, Lu Luxing and Good Li Xing were originally elegies, but Cao Cao used them to mourn the troubled times. "Out of the East Gate" was originally a song lamenting the impermanence of life and the need to eat, drink and be merry in time, but Cao Cao used it to express his ambition to dominate the world and the magnificent scenery he saw when he returned from the Northern Expedition. It can be seen that Cao Cao's innovative folk songs opened up a new style of Jian 'an literature and influenced Du Fu, Bai Juyi and others later.
There are three contents in Cao Cao's poems: reflecting the reality of unrest in the late Han Dynasty, unifying the ideal of the world and the indomitable spirit, and expressing unforgettable negative emotions.
In the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao had a wide range of social contacts. Therefore, he has many personal experiences and understandings. For example, Hao describes the tragic scene of the war at the end of the Han Dynasty. When he saw the sufferings of the people, he also saw the sympathy of the poet when he was hurt. Therefore, later generations called Cao Cao Yuefu "a true record of the late Han Dynasty, an authentic poem".
Cao Cao was born in an official's family and had ambitions for the world, so he had unified ambitions. In the short Song Dynasty, there was a saying that "the Duke of Zhou vomited food, and the world returned to the heart". Its enterprising spirit can also be seen. For example, in "Although the tortoise lives a long life", it is said that he will not give up his ambition even in his later years.
A generation of heroes, who have enjoyed the scenery for a lifetime, also died when the stars fell. Cao Cao also felt helpless about this, and he could only make a poem and sigh. For example, in short songs, the sadness of "morning dew, how painful it is to go to Japan", Hu Xing's low mood in autumn, and Shang Mosang's works of wandering immortals can all see his negative emotions.
Cao Cao's poetic form is very innovative. He is particularly good at writing five-character and four-character styles. Hao was originally a miscellaneous word, but Cao Cao rewritten it into five words, which was very successful. Four-character poems have declined since The Book of Songs, and there are not many excellent works, but Cao Cao inherited the national style and the tradition of Xiaoya, reflecting reality and expressing emotions. For example, "Short Song" and "Out of the Summer Gate" are masterpieces of four-character poems, which make them reborn and glow again. Cao Cao's poems are simple, straightforward, bold, sad, gloomy and vigorous. The colorful words are rare, but vivid as the poem "Watching the Sea": "The autumn wind is bleak, the waves are rough, and the trip to the sun and the moon, if it is outside, the stars are brilliant, if it is outside." A few strokes can show the poet's mind with a vast seascape without retouching.
Among the emperors in China, Cao Cao was really a poet. Although Cao Cao is not an emperor, he is also better than the emperor. If there is a list of literary achievements of emperors in past dynasties, Cao Cao is not the first, but also the first winner of silver and bronze medals.
His poems are really well written, which is by no means comparable to those arty emperors in China. All emperors, whether literate or illiterate, whether they can write or not, put on their robes and sit in the dragon chair, all want to "show off in an ostentatious manner" in poetry and "show off" in literature, which is almost a common problem. Among them, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang wrote the least. When he returned to Xiapi wearing clothes, he roared out a song "Song of the Big Wind", which has been passed down to this day. I have always doubted whether this curator has the ability to write poems. If he wrote a song with a slight breeze, or a song with a slight breeze, it doesn't hurt to put the poet's laurel on his head. Just this sentence, only these two sentences, are probably literati such as secretaries, such as Shu and others, who are now editing and dictating on the spot. He probably has a good memory and is selling it now. So Liu Bang is the best of both worlds. Li Hong, the emperor gaozu of the Qing Dynasty, wrote the most. He wrote 40 thousand poems in his life, almost close to the sum of all Tang poems, but unfortunately none of them can be handed down. Divided by this person's age, 40,000/80, an average of 500 poems are written a year, with an average of 1 to 2 poems a day. Such a high output can't be achieved even if he is killed. So he had to find a royal scholar as a gunner and do OEM work for him. There is nothing wrong with foreign supreme rulers. Caesar did not write poetry, nor did Napoleon. Therefore, many fake emperors in China wrote poems, which can't be absolutely believed.
Cao Mengde's poems can be evaluated in twelve words: first, heroic; Second, they are strong; Third, they are profound; Fourth, they are literary and artistic; Therefore, it is sung through the ages and recited endlessly. In the memory of China people, at least the following three sentences are unforgettable.
Du Kang is the only one who can solve the problem. To this day, it is still on the lips of drunkards.
An old horse crouches, aiming at a thousand miles. Older people are reluctant to quit the stage.
"Although the tortoise has a long life, it still has its time." This is to warn everyone to cherish the limited life cycle given by God, especially not to fiddle around, curry favor with others, be upset and be insane in their later years.
Cao Cao is not only a great poet, but also created Jian 'an literature, which is of great significance in the history of China literature. Starting from Jian 'an Literature in China, there appeared a freelance writer who took writing as his main business and didn't have to write according to the will of the chief executive. Although I still work in a government department, I still need to invigorate the economy, and I am ordered to write literature, but many times, I can write what I want according to my personal interests and aspirations. This freedom in writing was initiated by Cao Cao. It's not big, but it's significant.
After Cao Cao pacified Lu Bu, Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, Xu Du in 196 had a preliminary stable situation. He made great efforts to achieve cultural success. He held the trump card of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, which played a considerable role in attracting gentry and intellectuals. "It's time to build a new capital, wise scholars, and gather in all directions." It has absorbed a number of scholars and intellectuals such as Cui Yan and Kong Rong, and also attracted talented writers and poets Rainbow Can and Chen Lin, thus forming the cultural center of the Central Plains. At that time, offering poems and selling words for Xu Du was the goal pursued by many unknown writers. As a result, a prosperous situation called "Jian 'an Literature" appeared in the history of literature. Without Cao Shi and his son, there would be no Jian 'an literature. If the Writers Association had been established, everyone would have voted for Cao Cao, who is the chairman of the Writers Association.
At this time, the literary atmosphere of Xudu reached a climax. The author of Wen Xin Diao Long is Liu Xie of the Southern Liang Dynasty. As for this center where many scholars are active, there was once a statement: "From Xian Di, literature spread and moved, and by the end of Jian 'an, there was the collection of Yu Fang. Wei Wu likes poems and chapters about kings; Emperor Wen attached importance to the deputy monarch, and Miao Shan wrote ci and fu; Chen Si wrote a beautiful book with his son's pride. And the appearance is heroic, so the talents are thriving. It is said that Kong Rong, Chen Lin, Liu Zhen, Xu Gan, Ruan, Ying, Cai Yan, etc. were all redeemed from the Huns, showing their abilities. Liu Xie is about two centuries away from this era. Writing this literary event should be more accurate and authoritative.
The prosperity of Jian 'an literature, to a great extent, benefited from the recuperation policy after Cao Cao unified the Central Plains, which formed a stable situation. If we continue to fight with Eryuan, Lu Bu and Liu endlessly, just as we fought endlessly during the Cultural Revolution, we will not do anything other than model operas. In addition, he himself "loves poetry and elegance" and is well versed in literary laws. Dong Zhuo, who only knows how to kill people, used a knife to force Cai Yong, a great writer, to come out of the mountain. Soon there was a situation of "five words leap forward at the beginning of Jian 'an".
Cao Cao's emphasis on literature is also rare among emperors in past dynasties. Because he is a real poet, not a cultural politician who sells dog meat. For example, she spared no expense to redeem Cai Wenji from Hun Khan, because her eighteen beats of Hu Jia touched him. Of course, her father, Cai Yong, and Cao Cao used to be very good buddies, and he couldn't bear the daughter of an old friend to live in a foreign country. He ordered the Ministry of Finance to allocate funds for redemption. This is definitely a romantic act of the poet. Other leaders may not have such a mind, let alone such a mood. After Cai Wenji returned to the Central Plains, Cao Cao asked her to do one thing, that is, bring her up, provide financial personnel, and let her dictate the books and characters that her father Cai Yong had memorized and compile them into a book to avoid oblivion. This is really a great move.
It is concluded that the development and prosperity of literature has a great relationship with the times. When there is turmoil, literature will end, and when there is stability, literature will recover. During the Cultural Revolution, only Mr. Haoran's novels were fashionable, otherwise they were all blank, which can be proved.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the yellow turban insurrectionary peasants revolted, and Kyushu rioted, causing untold sufferings. After that, the warlord Dong Zhuo suffered from war. Luoyang was razed to the ground and the Central Plains was in dire straits. At this time, everything is in a disaster of destruction, and literature is naturally in a desperate situation. Because although the peasant revolution has its role in promoting the progress of the times, it also has its rather negative side of destroying civilized culture and social wealth. Dong Zhuo is just a western farmer in a shirt. Therefore, what he did was similar to that of gold, and both had the characteristics that peasant revolutionaries hated culture, knowledge and human civilization. In the atmosphere of hatred that destroys the achievements of human civilization, and in the midst of war, the bird of literature can only be silent and cannot sing a beautiful voice.
At the beginning of the Central Plains, the Spring Festival experienced great turmoil and suffered serious disasters, and people needed to recuperate. In this way, there is a certain trend of ideological emancipation, and the literati's personality begins to get a chance to stretch freely. Therefore, "generosity", with a lot of depressed words to pour out and a lot of pain to relieve, became the characteristics of literature in this period. Cao Cao himself is a writer of scar literature. He has a poem "Autumn Record", which describes Dong Zhuo's eternal evil deeds of threatening the emperor to move the capital to Chang 'an and set fire to Luoyang: "Thieves and ministers hold the state's handle, kill the Lord and destroy Yujing. Swing through the emperor's inheritance, the ancestral temple was burned. I am sad when I spread it to the west and cry and look at Belo City. "
From the development of Jian 'an literature, we can see that only when troubled times are full of clouds and literature really needs a stable environment, a background of ideological emancipation and a suitable literary atmosphere can it prosper. The development of Jian 'an literature benefited from the advocacy of Cao Shi and his son, the relatively stable environment in the Central Plains, and the liberation of literati personality represented by the seven sons of Jian 'an. Jian 'an literati may be a group of professional writers who got rid of China's absolute vassal status earlier and made a living from literature. Their behavioral characteristics are: pursuing freedom, yearning for laissez-faire, favoring romantic leisure, advocating active life, full of rebellious spirit towards ethics and morality, and emphasizing artistic individuality. It can be said that it is the earliest unorthodox scholar sample in China. Lu Xun believes that this literary attitude can be summarized by the word "Shang Tong Tuo". During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Lu Ji, Pan Yue, Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun came down in one continuous line, and "Tong Yi" was further developed and once became the mainstream of China literature development.
At that time, their romantic behavior, romantic manners, free style and individual color were probably beyond the reach of later literati.
Cao Cao is no exception. The reflection said that he was "less alert and had the right to count." Ren Xia is dissolute and does not cure the industry. " Pei quoted the biography of Cao Zang as saying that he was "not good at flying eagles and running dogs, and traveled too much." It seems that Cao Cao and his two sons are both literati with romantic potential. In "The Mystery of Sacrifice to Old Taiwei Bridge", he recalled an episode of communication with this older man: "I was promoted to the classroom when I was young, and I was accepted by a gentleman with my stubborn attitude. The promotion of a person's concept of justice and benefit is assisted by awards. Zhong Ni said Yan Yuan, Li Shengzhi as thick as Jia Fu. When the scholar died, he knew his friend and never forgot it. He also vowed:' there will be a way out after death, and you can't blame abdominal pain in three steps.' Although it is a temporary joke, it is not a good thing for a close relative. Is that why Hooken resigned? "This old gentleman, who was later regarded as an old Joe in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, can joke with Cao Cao: if you can't walk three steps without passing my grave with a chicken and a pot of wine, I will give you a stomachache. Don't blame me. It shows that Cao Cao ruled the emperor in order to ruin the princes, but it did not hurt and threaten his rule, and he could also appreciate the sense of humor of this literati.
From a historical point of view, Cao Cao, as a writer, deserves to be a good cook; However, as a politician, no one can but admit that Cao Cao is also a good writer killer. He is not polite to anyone who touches his political nerves, whether he is a writer, a poet or anyone else. Every step of literature progress always comes at a price. Any new attempt will always break the pattern of the past and lose the original balance, which will definitely cause the defenders of the old order to fight back. If the exploration experiment, once beyond the scope of literature, crosses the political thunder pool and is regarded as deviant, it is necessary to use the literati's head as collateral. Especially those literati who don't get their hands on power, interfere in politics and want to get good results, usually will not have a good end.
Among the seven sons of Jian 'an, Kong Rong was killed by Cao Cao because he specifically opposed Cao Cao. There is also a Xu Zhen, who was sent to the quarry for labor reform by Cao Cao because he had evil thoughts about Cao Pi's beautiful wife after marriage. Yang Xiu was not among the seven sons, but was also killed by Cao Cao. As for Mi Fei, a rising star, although Cao Cao didn't kill him, he actually asked Howie to kill him by borrowing a knife.
These three people who have lost their heads also have their reasons for not wanting to get into trouble. Kong Rong's position is quite high. He used to be a North Sea photo. After arriving in Xudu, I became a master, that is, the Minister of Construction. This is not the main envy of Cao Cao. Because he and Cao Cao always had a hard time, they often made trouble, and because of the appeal of Confucius' descendants, he became the representative of the aristocratic giants and the leader of intellectuals. His mansion became the "petofi Club" where various anti-Cao Cao figures gathered. At this time, no matter how well your article is written, and pear's virtue as a child, I'm sorry, I found a scholar named Lv Cui, who is such a scum in the writers' team. I wrote a tip-off to report Kong Rong's "Falling in Love with Bai Miheng" and said,' What does a father have to do with his son? As far as its original intention is concerned, it is actually lust. What is a child to a mother? Is it also ridiculous? For example, if you leave the bottle, you will leave it ... this is a big violation and should be severely punished. "Book play, city waste.
Yang Xiu's position is almost the same. In Cao Cao's headquarters, he only served as the marching master book, which is probably equivalent to a staff officer, not a combat staff officer. Even the marching password was heard from others, and he was obviously idle. So it's harder to kill him than to kill Kong Rong, and put out the word "disturbing the morale of the army" and behead him. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms said that Cao Cao was jealous of Yang Xiu's cleverness and gave birth to a murderous heart. In fact, due to Yang Xiu's restlessness, he got involved in politics, became a clique of Cao Zhi, made suggestions, and was involved in the power struggle of the court's heirs. And many smelly ideas were exposed by Cao Cao and had to be removed.
To tell the truth, writers play politics and politicians play literature, both of which are a little confusing, so they can't appear formally. In the history of China, how many versatile politicians and writers are there like Cao Cao? Therefore, in his life, there has never been a farce in which a politician can't play well in literature, nor a tragedy in which a writer can't play well in politics and his life hangs by a thread. Cao Cao is a great man in both literature and politics.
So Mr. Lu Xun said: "Cao Cao is a very capable person, at least a hero." Although I am not a client of Cao Cao, I have always admired him. " I think this is the most insightful evaluation of Cao Cao.