The position of poetry is still the most important. At the end of the Han Dynasty, under the social background of Wei Chu's "chaos in the world, surging clouds and rising public grievances", literati's poetry creation entered a period of great development of "five words soaring". During this period, with Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi as the core, Ye Ren Xia Group was formed with Kong Rong, RoyceWong, Serina Liu, Chen Lin and other so-called "seven sons of Jian 'an", which created the glory of Jian 'an literature. The works of Jian 'an literati have the same style of the times as "generosity". Among them, Cao Cao's poems, such as Hao, Short, Walking Out of Xiamen, which reflect the turbulent social reality and express the poet's ambition to make contributions and unify the world, are all relatively successful chapters. Cao Zhi's literary achievements are the highest, and he is called "the outstanding man in Jian 'an". His poem is "high-spirited, and his words are taken from Hua Mao". "White Horse" and "White Horse Wang Biao" are his representative works in his early and later periods. His prose and ci fu also show high ideological and artistic quality, and the famous "Luo Shen Fu" is beautiful. RoyceWong is the most accomplished writer among the "Seven Scholars", and his Seven Wounded Poems and Loutai Fu are masterpieces with realistic spirit in Jian 'an literature.
At the turn of Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the change of social customs, poetry creation showed a different style from that of Jian 'an era. Ruan Ji and Ji Kang's works are either gloomy and difficult, or sharp-edged. They inherited the excellent tradition of Jian 'an literature and further promoted the development of five-character poems. Poetry flourished in the Taikang period of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the poet was known as "three land, two left". But most of the works are in China, and only Zuo Si's poems are vigorous and powerful, inheriting the spirit of Jian 'an literature. His poem "Ode to History" opens up a new way to combine history with nostalgia. Under the influence of metaphysics in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, metaphysical poems with "tasteless rhetoric" once flooded, and Tao Yuanming was the greatest poet who could transcend the secular world. In Tao Yuanming's era, "Zhen Feng died, and the Great Pseudo prospered". He walked out of poverty and witnessed the darkness of officialdom, unwilling to go with the flow. He is determined to resign and retire, keeping his personal spirit. His pastoral poems depict the beauty of natural scenery, praise the tranquility of rural life, and show the joy and hardship of personally participating in agricultural production and labor. It has created an artistic realm that combines emotion, scenery and reason, and is plain and mellow. Drinking in the Garden is his masterpiece of pastoral poetry. The style of Tao's poetry naturally faded into the mainstream, but reading Shan Hai Jing (Jing Wei Fill Micro Wood) and Jing Ke Fu also showed the poet's "King Kong glaring" side. It can be seen that the poet's heart is not peaceful, and he has not forgotten the world. Tao Yuanming's poems have a great influence on later generations, especially the pastoral poetry school in Tang Dynasty. Tao Yuanming's literary achievements are manifold. Although his prose and words are few in number, they are all excellent. His representative works include Peach Blossom Garden, Gui Qu Ci, and Qing Shi Fu.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, many literati devoted themselves to literary creation, and the main literary styles used were poetry and parallel prose. The landscape poems of the Southern Dynasties shone brilliantly in the hands of Xie Lingyun, and then Xie Tiao's landscape poems were fresh and mellow, known as "big and small thanks". The poet Bao Zhao was born in poverty, but he was good at expressing his cynical feelings with seven-character ancient poems. His rhyming seven-character songs have contributed to the development of seven-character poems. Wen Yuan in the north is a little lonely, but there are also many famous essays, such as Notes on Water Classics by Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Notes on Galand in Luoyang by Yang Xuanzhi, Family Instructions for Yan Family by Yan Zhitui in the Northern Qi Dynasty, etc. The most successful writer is Yu Xin from south to north. His Poem Fu is a masterpiece of North and South literature, which combines the exquisite and mature artistic skills of the South with the vigorous and hearty spirit of the North and becomes the forerunner of the poetic style in the Tang Dynasty. Parallel prose dominated the whole literary world in this period. Bao Zhao's Climbing the Thunder Shore and Sisters' Book, Yu Xin's Wucheng Fu and Jiangnan Fu are all excellent works. Generally speaking, the pursuit of formal temperament by literati in the Southern Dynasties made full preparations for the finalization and maturity of Tang Dynasty literature, especially modern poetry.
In addition, Yuefu folk songs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties can also reflect Yuefu poems in the Han Dynasty. Wu Ge and operas in the Southern Dynasties are lively and graceful, while minority songs in the Northern Dynasties are vigorous and powerful, with different styles, but they are sincere.
Judging from the formation and development of China's ancient novel genre, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was an important stage, during which strange novels and anecdote novels appeared. Among them, Gan Bao's Searching for the Gods in Jin Dynasty and Liu Yiqing's Shi Shuo Xin Yu in Southern Dynasties deserve the most attention. Shi Shuo Xin Yu recorded the anecdotes of many upper-class gentry figures from Han Dynasty to Jin Dynasty, with vivid charm and simple and delicate words, which really set a precedent for later note novels.
Due to the gradual consciousness of literary consciousness, Cao Pi's Classic Papers, Lu Ji's Wen Fu, Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long, Zhong Pei's Shi Pin and other literary works appeared in this period. The latter two are epoch-making masterpieces in the history of China's literary theory.