1, the emotional tone of literature is pessimistic and free.
Many literati in this period were inexplicably involved in the whirlpool of political struggle. Some of them were excluded and suppressed, some were persecuted or even beheaded, and some lived in war. These experiences make them feel powerless to society and themselves. Some of them are pessimistic and desperate, while others vent their hopeless feelings with wanton behavior. In this way, the literature of this period formed a pessimistic and open-minded emotional tone.
2. The themes of literature are life and death, wandering immortals and seclusion.
This theme is consistent with the pessimistic and open-minded emotional tone of literati. The theme of life and death is mainly to feel the shortness of life, the inevitability of death and how to face life and death, such as Cao Cao's short songs. The theme of wandering immortals is mainly to imagine the fairy world and express the yearning for the fairy world and the desire for longevity, such as Cao Zhi's poems about wandering immortals. The theme of seclusion is mainly the yearning and praise for seclusion life, as well as the attraction and opposition to seclusion. For example, Tao Yuanming has a large number of works describing reclusive life and expressing reclusive thoughts. He pushed the creation of this theme to the peak.
3. Literature is permeated with Confucianism, metaphysics and Buddhism.
During this period, the country was divided for a long time, wars continued and people were displaced. On the one hand, the social economy has been severely damaged, and the life of the broad masses of people is very difficult. On the other hand, people's thoughts have been liberated as never before, and metaphysics, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism go hand in hand, which inevitably affects and permeates literary creation. For example, metaphysical poetry, which has occupied a hundred years in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, is the result of the influence of metaphysics on literature.
Literature reflects the depression of the poor.
Wei Wendi's employment policy has formed a situation of "no poverty in the top grade, no right in the bottom grade", which naturally makes many poor people with high talents feel wronged. These grievances are reflected in literary creation and become a feature of literature in this period.
5. A large number of literary families appeared.
During this period, there appeared three literary families, such as "three Cao fathers and sons", "three Zhang brothers" (Zhang Zai, Zhang Xie,) and "Erlu" (Lu Ji,) brothers.
6. The creative forms are rich and colorful.
(1), the main achievement of this period is poetry, the literati's five-character poems are outstanding, and the folk songs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties are also very successful.
(2) Although the prose in this period has been gradually replaced by parallel prose, there are also some excellent prose handed down from generation to generation.
(3) Novels that sprouted in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties began to flourish in the Six Dynasties. It laid the foundation for the development of later novels and operas.
7. The prosperity of literary theory criticism and literary consciousness.
In terms of literary theory and literary criticism, there have been many works on literary theory and literary criticism. For example, Cao Pi's Classic Papers, Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long, Zhong Rong's Poems, etc.
There are three important signs of literary consciousness in this period: first, literature is divided from broad academic and becomes an independent category; Secondly, the various genres of literature are distinguished in detail, and more importantly, the system and style characteristics of various genres in this period are clearly understood; The third is the conscious pursuit of literary aesthetic characteristics.