As for their poetic level, there have always been different opinions.
In his poems, Zhong Rong, a literary critic in the Southern Dynasties, divided the three Caos into three grades: Cao Zhi's top grade, Cao Pi's middle grade and Cao Cao's inferior grade.
Cao Cao was classified as inferior because his poetic style did not conform to the trend of the Southern Dynasties. As a literary critic, Zhong Rong can't get rid of the shackles of the times.
However, his other evaluation of Cao Cao hit the nail on the head. He said: Cao Gong is old and straight, and there is a sad saying.
Wei Wudi Cao Cao
Jian 'an style actually refers to the tragic style advocated by Cao Cao in a great sense. "Short Song" and "Looking at the Sea" well reflect Jian 'an's character.
Cao Cao's masterpiece "Short Songs"
Zhong Rong also thinks that Cao Pi is not as good as Cao Zhi, but Liu Xie, who is also a literary critic in the Southern Dynasties, thinks that they have their own advantages and disadvantages in Wen Xin Diao Long.
Cao Pi is rational and his poems are reflective. Cao Zhi's pure feelings are full of poetry. Therefore, Liu Xie said: Emperor Wen respected talents by position, thinking that the king benefited from the situation.
Wei Wendi Cao Pi
Cao Pi's introspection and rational spirit are well reflected in his Dian Lun Wen. He said: building articles is a great cause of the country and an immortal event. The years of life sometimes end, and glory ends in the body. Both will reach a normal period, not endless articles.
Through this passage, we can see that Cao Pi noticed the independent value of the article and was not attached to things like praise. His article is full of speculative spirit.
Therefore, Wang Fuzhi, a simple materialist thinker in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, clearly stated in his "Jiang [jiāng] Zhai Shi Hua" that Cao Pi was much better than Cao Zhi.
Wang Fuzhi, a thinker in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties
Modern Liang Qichao said in On the Relationship between Novels and Group Governance that novels can infect people in four ways: smoking, immersion, stabbing and mentioning, and Cao Pi's poems have the appeal of smoking and immersion.
However, Mr. Wang believes that among the three Cao Cao, Cao Zhi has the greatest influence on later poets.
Wang Si Cao Zhi
Cao Pi is rational and full of introspection. Cao Zhi's awakening is manifested in his grasp and application of the characteristics of China's language and writing. From him, poets began to pay attention to the duality, arrangement and carving of poetry.
Cao Zhi's early poems, such as White Horse, are magnificent and vigorous.
Cao Zhi's early masterpiece White Horse
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Zhi was squeezed out and suppressed by his brother Cao Pi and his nephew Cao Cao, and his poetic style became implicit and concrete, such as the famous seven-wound poem.
Cao Zhi's later masterpiece "Seven Wounded Poems"
The moon shines on the tall buildings, and the lights upstairs are swaying.
There is a sad woman sighing upstairs.
Who is the sigh upstairs? A word is a son and wife.
My husband has been away for more than ten years, and he is often timid alone.
My husband is like dust on the road, like mud in dirty water.
Floating dust and mud are different, when can we meet harmoniously?
Yes, I want to turn into a southwest wind and disappear into my husband's arms!
My husband's heart is no longer open to me. What can I rely on?
Writing a homesick woman's thoughts and resentment towards her husband clearly is actually a tortuous way, revealing her depressed mood that has been suppressed one after another in politics.
I am afraid that the person who has always had the highest evaluation of Cao Zhi is Xie Lingyun in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Xie Lingyun is wearing Xie Gongyi.
The idiom "talented people come forth in large numbers" comes from his worship of Cao Zhi.
Be endowed with great/extraordinary talents
There is only * * * one stone [Dan] in the world, and Cao Zijian has eight fights, and I fight, and everyone * * * has a fight.
There is no first place in literature, no second place in martial arts, and it is still inconclusive who is higher or lower in the three Cao Cao. However, I like Cao Cao's simple and desolate writing style.
But one thing, if the style of poetry conforms to the social atmosphere at that time, people's evaluation will be high.
So now I can try to answer this question, "Why do most experts think that Cao Cao's literary level is far less than that of Cao Zhi?" .
Regardless of whether the problem itself is true or not, simply assuming that the real situation is like this can only show that the current social atmosphere may be more inclined to Cao Zhi's gorgeous, rather than Cao Cao's simple sadness.