Jian 'an era is an era of great chaos, massacre, great exchange and great integration within the Chinese nation. Being in this era, "San Cao" has been in extensive contact with social reality in a stormy world, witnessed the social war and the pain of people's lives, and created a large number of poems closely related to the times with the ambition of making contributions, displaying talents and clarifying jade. These poems naturally contain rich ideological content.
First, based on a large number of facts about social chaos, the author reflects the endless disasters brought to the people by the chaos of the times and the infighting among warlords. Cao Cao's Hao Lixing truly reflects the historical facts of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and other warlords fighting for power and profits in the name of begging Dong Zhuo, and exposes the tragic scene of "bones exposed in the wild, thousands of miles silent" caused by the melee. "Lu Luxing" openly reveals the dilapidated scene of Luoyang in Kyoto under the burning and looting of Dong Zhuo's bandits. In Cao Pi's Ge Yanxing, the author describes that women miss their husbands who are fighting in other places on sleepless autumn nights, reflecting the infinite sadness that husband and wife can't get together. The author of "Good Deeds" described the sufferings of servants profoundly and sharply. There are also many articles in Cao Zhi's poems. The History of Ying Ying describes the ruined scene of Luoyang after the war. The author of "Song of Fu Liang on Mount Tai" reflects the tragic life of people in coastal areas who "died of savagery", calling people's livelihood miserable.
Secondly, the author expressed his ambition with the thought of worrying about the country and the ambition of "saving the world and saving the country", and actively pursued the ideal of making contributions and reunifying the motherland. Cao Cao's poem Duijiu expresses his political ideal with generous and heroic words, hoping to achieve a prosperous and peaceful life for all by the way of "Zhi Ming of kings". In "Short Song", he said: "The mountain will never be too high, and the sea will never be too deep. The Duke of Zhou vomited and fed, and the world turned to the heart ",which expressed that he wanted to recruit wise men like Duke of Zhou, * * * reunify the great cause and make the world turn to the heart". In particular, although the tortoise is long-lived, he wrote a famous sentence, "An old horse crouches, with a thousand miles of ambition, and a martyr is full of courage in his old age", expressing his unswerving determination to be "old and strong". Cao Zhi also has many works to express his ambition. The author of "White Horse" describes the hero in the poem as "how can you live in peace if you give up your life?" "Parents don't care, how can you say about children and wives? A famous person is a strong person, and he can't be selfish. Superb martial arts and that kind of hero who cares about his country and his family are really his own heroic confessions. In The Story of Pomfret, the author expressed his great ambition to show his talents for the great cause of "Far Huairou Kyushu", and compared people who are keen on personal fame and fortune to vulgar villains such as pomfret and sparrows.
Thirdly, the author used his own personal experience and feelings to create a novel that reflects the beautiful scenery of mountains and seas, satirizes the luxury and enjoyment of aristocratic children, exposes social injustice and expresses personal resentment. Cao Cao's "Looking at the Sea" describes the magnificent scene of climbing mountains and looking at the sea in late autumn, and shows the great spirit of the author devouring the universe. This work became the first masterpiece with landscape as its content in ancient poetry. The poems of Cao Shi and his son contain such rich and profound ideological content. No wonder Liu Xie commented on "deep ambition and long pen" and "strong spirit" in the article Wen Xin Diao Long Time Series!
"Three Cao" poems have distinct and unique artistic characteristics. First of all, the author shows strong realism. In their poetry creation, they inherited and carried forward the dark realism tradition of folk songs in Han Yuefu at that time, and "wrote current affairs through ancient Yuefu" with their own experiences and witnessed reality, which was full of realistic life breath. Therefore, they created many realistic works that exposed the evils of war, criticized the warlords' melee and sympathized with the sufferings and feelings of the people at that time, which were called "the history of poetry" by later generations. Secondly, in their own creative practice, they learned the forms of folk songs in Han Dynasty and created a large number of Yuefu poems, which made their works have obvious flavor of Yuefu folk songs. For example, more than 20 poems left by Cao Cao are Yuefu poems. Thirdly, in his creation, he not only exudes his feelings from the chaos of reality, but also expresses his sadness and chaos to reality and generosity, forming the unique artistic characteristics of "Three Caos", which is called "Jian 'an Style" by later generations. However, due to the different pursuits, circumstances and status of Cao Shi and his son, the characteristics of poetry are also different. Cao Cao was an outstanding politician and strategist at the end of Han Dynasty. His thoughts are vigorous, lively and heroic, and he has a strong mind and boldness of vision, so his poems present a bold, solemn and simple artistic style. Cao Pi is an emperor, but his political vision and boldness of vision are far less than Cao Cao's, and his thoughts are not enterprising. He spent most of his life in the palace relocation banquet, so his poems showed a beautiful and elegant artistic style, weeping and sadness, just like "literary spirit" and "feminine taste" Cao Zhi was favored by Cao Cao in his early days, and he was optimistic, ambitious and confident. Later, he was attacked and suppressed by Cao Pi and Cao Rui, and he was hard and afraid ideologically. Therefore, his poetry has the artistic style of vigorous and high-spirited in the early stage, sad and generous in the later stage. Zhong Rong's evaluation of his poems is "high-spirited" and "elegant and resentful".