There are less than 20 poems by Cao Cao, all of which are Yuefu poems. The content can be roughly divided into three categories. One is related to current affairs, the other is mainly to express ideals, and the other is poetry about immortals.
His works related to current affairs include Lu Luxing, Good Li Xing, Bitter Cold Travel, Walking Out of Xiamen, etc. Two songs, Autumn Journey and Good, were written in the early years of Jian 'an. The foregoing reflects that He Jinmou murdered eunuchs, and Dong Zhuo went to Luoyang for insurrection. The second article is about the states and counties in Kanto, each with its own ambitions, fighting with each other, and keeping pace with each other in content. Poetry describes this historical process in concise language, so it is known as "a true record of the late Han Dynasty, an authentic work of poetry history" (Zhong Xing's Return of Ancient Poems). What is particularly commendable is that in the poem "A Journey to Luxury", he wrote the profound sufferings of the broad masses of the people in the war in a sympathetic tone: "A lice is born, ten thousand people die, and the bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no crows in a thousand miles, and hundreds of people stay, and thinking breaks people's intestines." Written in the 11th year of Jian 'an, A Bitter and Cold Journey vividly describes the coldness, desolation and precipitousness of Taihang Mountain in winter, and at the same time writes the poet's inner complex feelings. "Out of Xiamen" was written in the twelfth year of Jian 'an, and the five rings levied three counties. This poem includes "Yan" (prelude) and four explanations. Yan concentrated on the poet's complex mood when he went to war. Explain "Watching the Sea" and write the impressions when marching through Jieshi; Second, explain Winter in October and Cold in the River, and write about what you saw and heard on your way home. Fourth, explain "although the tortoise lives long" and write about the ideological activities after winning this important battle. Among them, "Looking at the Sea" describes the seascape, "The autumn wind is bleak, the waves are rough, and the trip between the sun and the moon is unexpected; If the stars are brilliant, unexpected and magnificent, it embodies the poet's broad mind of embracing the universe and devouring the sun and the moon. "Although a turtle lives for a long time" expresses the poet's view on life and career with a series of vivid metaphors: "An old man riding on a horse, aiming at a thousand miles, a martyr died with great courage". This is the true confession of the poet's active and enterprising spirit all his life.
The poems that mainly express ideals are Du Guan Shan, Duijiu, and Short Song. The political ideals of the first two poets. His ideal of peace and prosperity is the politics of virtuous monarch and good minister, which combines Confucianism and law with kindness and prestige. This is undoubtedly of progressive significance under the realistic background of the great social destruction in the late Han Dynasty. "A Short Song Line" takes seeking talents as its theme, and expresses the feelings of seeking talents to achieve its great cause with poems such as "The mountain is not too high, the water is not too deep, the Duke of Zhou vomits and feeds, and the world is at home". You Xian's poems include Exhale and Autumn Hu Xing. Cao Cao didn't believe in the alchemist's theory of immortality, so he wrote these poems as something else, so he can't be equated with Qin Huang and Wu Han's quest for immortality. In artistic style, Cao Cao's poems are unpretentious and unpretentious. They won with deep affection and charm. Poetically, it is characterized by generosity and sadness. Generosity and sadness, originally the keynote of Jian 'an literature, are the most typical and prominent in Cao Cao's poems. In terms of poetic genre, Cao Cao's Yuefu poems did not copy the rules of Han Yuefu, but developed. For example, Lu Luxing and Good Li Xing are both elegies in the Han Yuefu, but he used old topics to express brand-new contents. Cao Cao initiated the tradition of writing current affairs with Yuefu, which had far-reaching influence. A large number of Yuefu poems created 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 applied words, which can be roughly divided into three categories: table, preface and book. His representative works include Please Add Guo Jia's knighthood Form, Let Counties Make an Account, Show Books with the King, Wenxuan Sacrifice to Taiwei Bridge, etc. These characters are characterized by simplicity, simplicity, frankness and fluency, and write the unique voice of Cao Cao. For example, "Let the princess know her ambition" tells the story of her struggle for most of her life, analyzes the situation at that time and dissects her own mind. Among them, the words "I don't know how many people are emperors and how many people are kings" are extremely frank and courageous. From the Eastern Han Dynasty, prose appeared the trend of parallel prose, and gradually appeared at the end of Han Dynasty. Ordinary prose writers began to emphasize duality and use allusions. But Cao Cao was unique at that time with his simple, practical and practical style. Mr. Lu Xun once praised Cao Cao as the founder of "transforming articles"