poetic sentiment
Cao Cao has profound cultivation in literature, calligraphy and music. His literary achievements are mainly reflected in today's poems and essays.
There are more than twenty 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 called "A Record of the Late Han Dynasty, an authentic work of poetry history" (Zhong Xing's Ancient Poems Return). 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: "When a cockroach is born, everyone dies, and the bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no crows in a thousand miles. There are hundreds of people left behind, which makes people feel sad. " A Journey to Bitter Cold was written in the 11th year of Jian 'an. The poem describes the coldness, desolation and precipitousness of Taihang Mountain in winter, with vivid images, and also 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. Third, 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; The stars are brilliant, magnificent and magnificent, which embodies the poet's broad mind of containing 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 first two articles are about political ideals. His vision 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 social destruction in the late Han Dynasty. The theme of "Short Song" is to be thirsty for talents. With poems such as "the mountain is not too high, the sea is not too deep, the duke of Zhou vomits food, and the world returns to the heart", he expressed his desire to seek talents and recruit talents to achieve his great cause.
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 achievements in literature are also reflected in his constructive role in Jian 'an literature (see Seven Children of Jian 'an). Jian 'an literature can flourish under the background of long-term war and social fragmentation, which is inseparable from his attention and promotion. When discussing the reasons for the prosperity of Jian 'an literature, Liu Xie once pointed out that "respecting the monarch and loving poetry and elegance" (the literary mind carves dragons). In fact, the main writers in Jian 'an period were closely related to him. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are his sons, and the "seven sons" and Cai Yan are also sheltered by him. It can be said that "Ye Group" was formed on the basis of the material conditions he provided; And their creation is also under the influence of his advocacy.
In addition, Cao Cao has many other articles handed down from generation to generation, such as Please Increase Guo Jia's knighthood list, Let the county magistrate know his own story, Repair the Book and the King, Wenxuan Commemorating Qiu's Old Bridge, etc. Simple words, vivid feelings, fluency and frankness.
According to the textual research of Yao Zhenzong's Records of the Three Kingdoms of Qing Dynasty, Cao Cao's works include 30 volumes of Wei Wudi Collection, Sun Tzu's Art of War 1 Volume, 13 Volume and so on. There are more than ten kinds of works, but most of them have been lost, and the only one that exists is Sun Tzu's Note. 145 poems collected by Zhang Yan in Ming Dynasty were included in Wei Wudi Collection and 103 in Records of Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. Ding's Collection of Celebrities in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties also includes Wei Wudi's Collection, which has slightly more works than Zhang Pu's Collection. 1959, according to Ding Ben, Zhonghua Book Company added Annotation to Sun Tzu, and attached the Ji of Emperor Wu and Chronology of Cao Cao. , and reprinted as "Cao Cao Ji".
calligraphy
Later generations called Cao Cao an outstanding politician, strategist and writer in the history of the Chinese nation, who was both literate and literate, but Cao Cao was a generation of calligraphers but little known, mainly because there were not many calligraphy works handed down from generation to generation. People who have seen Cao Cao's calligraphy works in history all praise his book "golden flowers everywhere, exquisite and incomparable;" Jingyu sparkles, Yao Ruoxi. " "Pen and ink are bold and heroic. "Great beauty.
Zhang Hua, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, said in the Natural History: "In the Han Dynasty, Anping Cui Yuan, Zhang Zhi, Hongnong Zhang Zhi were good at cursive writing, and Taizu was good at cursive writing."
Liang Wajian, a calligraphy critic in the Southern Dynasties, divided the calligraphy works of ancient celebrities into three categories: upper, middle and lower, and each category was divided into upper, middle and lower categories. He ranked Cao Cao's calligraphy works as the best in China. According to their artistic achievements, Zhang, a calligrapher and critic in the Tang Dynasty, divided them into three categories: those who are outstanding are gods, those who use skilled labor are wonderful, and those who are divorced from vulgarity are capable; He called Cao Cao's calligraphy works wonderful in his calligraphy review monograph Book End. From this point of view, although Cao Cao's calligraphy works can not be regarded as excellent and top grade, they can also be regarded as famous calligraphers in China.
According to historical records, he often studied calligraphy with famous calligraphers at that time, such as Zhong You, Liang You, Han Danchun, Sun, etc. Especially the words of his favorite secretary Liang You hung in his account for careful consideration and appreciation. Sometimes I can't sleep at night, so I get up slowly, thinking about Gu Liang's words nailed all over the wall. Not only that, but he also asked Liang Huan to write Wei Gong Tablet, which can be said to be more than one bargained for. There is also a little-known story between him and Liang Hu: Liang Hu devoted his life to calligraphy. Cao Cao was very angry when he learned that Liang's loan of a calligraphy monograph left by the great calligrapher Cai Yong was rejected. When he vomited blood, he gave Liang Hu five special pills.
Although Cao Cao is a good writer, probably because he was busy with war and politics, he didn't have the opportunity to write, so there was little ink circulating around the world.
Zheng Qiao in Song Dynasty only included a big tablet written by Cao Cao in The Story of the Stone. Yang Shen in the Ming Dynasty only talked about the River Festival Table written by Cao Cao in the Yuan Dynasty. Qing Ye Yibao said in Jin Shilu that Cao Cao had written the words "worshipping Tai Tai" on the side of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang. There are only two words left in the world, that is, the word "Xue Kun" written by Cao Cao on a big stone of Nanbao River in Shimen, which has now moved into Hanzhong Museum. The word "Xue Kun" seen in Bozhou's "Cao Cao's Underground Troop Transport Road" is based on the extension of a moment; The two small characters "Wang Wei" engraved on it were blurred because of their straightness and were imitated by later generations.