Cao Pi was an outstanding poet in China during the Three Kingdoms period. Ge Yanxing is the earliest extant seven-character poem of literati in China. His five-character Yuefu is beautiful and moving, with about 40 existing poems.
Cao Pi's poems are diverse, with five or seven words as long, popular language and folk song spirit. The technique is euphemistic and meticulous, and he is an expert in describing the love between men and women and the theme of wandering women.
Ge Yanxing was written during Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuhuan County in the 12th year of Jian 'an, which was the highest achievement of Cao Pi's poetry. It is written in the form of seven-character rhyme, and it is the earliest and most complete seven-character rhyme in existence.
From the perspective of "thinking about women", Ge Yanxing reflects the present situation of war and displacement in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and expresses the inner resentment and melancholy of men and women who were forced to separate.
The words used in the whole poem are unpretentious, the syllables are graceful and graceful, and the feelings are flowing, which is praised by Wang Fuzhi as "dumping feelings, tilting degrees, tilting colors and tilting sounds, and there is no difference between ancient and modern times". Some of Cao Pi's works praised by later generations were written to Wang Wei during his tenure as a corps commander of the five senses. His poems are delicate, clear and touching.
Scholar Ye Jiaying listed Zhong Rong's poems, Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long, Wang Fuzhi's Jiang Zhai Shi Hua and Ye Jiaying's Poems of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties as Cao Pi's comments.
In the Book of Songs, Cao Pi ranks in the middle reaches, thinking that his poems are not as good as his younger brother Cao Zhi's, because Cao Pi's poems are "as straight as an occasional remark" (that is, two ordinary people are talking), while Cao Zhi's "character is extremely high, and he adopts Chinese words.
Feelings are elegant and resentful, and the style of literature and art is outstanding. "Wen Xin Diao Long" (omitted) said that Cao Pi "Wei Wencai is brilliant, and he always talks about restraining it, aiming to plant thousands of miles ... Huan Zi is careful and slow, so he doesn't compete with the first sound".
Different from Cao Zhi's "cleverness and talent", he also said that "vulgar feelings are suppressed, and the similarities are loud, and the Emperor Wen respects his position and lowers his talents, thinking that you are embarrassed by his position and are not convinced". The world sympathizes with Cao Zhi's situation. Cao Pi is the winner of the brothers' struggle for power, so people ignore the beauty of his article.