Cao Zhi has made great contributions to the art of poetry, especially to the creation of five-character poems. First of all, it should be clear that most of the ancient poems of Han Yuefu are mainly narrative. Later, in Nineteen Ancient Poems, lyrical elements gradually occupied an important position. It was Cao Zhi who developed this trend and organically combined lyric and narrative, greatly enriching its artistic function. Prince Charming Wang Biao is one of the best examples.
Secondly, Cao Zhi's skill in refining and modifying poetic language is extraordinary. Far better than the ancient poems and poems of Han Yuefu. For example, his Beauty is far more than that described by the ancients. It is more exquisite and gorgeous than "Mulberry on the Stranger" in "Nineteen Ancient Poems". There are many wonderful aphorisms in Cao Zhi's poems. I don't know whether they are deliberately refined or mentally made. Although they have been told through the ages, their charm is new. For example, "Li Wei won the full crown if he didn't take up his post" and "died of national disaster and sudden death" are often quoted by later generations. If Cao Zhi is really blessed, how do you feel?
Cao Zhi is especially good at using metaphors in folk songs, and on this basis, he brings forth the new. Often at the beginning of a poem, a certain emotion is aroused by metaphor, and the whole poem is dominated by a strategic position, achieving the amazing effect of unanimous attention. Shen Deqian's so-called "Chen Si's most ingenious tune" (Volume 5 of Ancient Poetry Source) refers to this, and this is the special charm of the opening of Cao Zhi's poems.
What needs to be understood is that Cao Zhi's five-character poems are also gifted in the order of sentence placement and the harmony of phonology. We can take his poem "The Public Banquet" as an example: "Qiu Lan is in Nagano and Zhu Hua is in Green Pool. As an example, it is not difficult to see that it has surpassed its predecessors and sprouted the form of antithesis. Moreover, in phonology, some poems are even and even. This ingenious form is obviously a breakthrough and development of ancient poetry.
In a word, evaluating Cao Zhi as a gifted scholar, I think it is completely in line with his poems! As Zhong Rong said, his poems are "extremely high in character, with Hua Mao's words, elegant in sentiment and resentment, and literary in style" (in the first volume of Poems), which is a very pertinent and comprehensive evaluation.
Cao Zhi's position in the history of China's poems, especially in the development of five-character poems, is detached, outstanding and independent. This is an insurmountable monument in the hearts of our poetry lovers. However, Cao Zhi's life path is not smooth, and his birth and personality doomed his tragic life!