Author: Cao Zhi
Boiled beans are used as soup and fermented into juice.
Honey burns under the pot, and beans cry in the pot.
We are born from the same root, so why rush to speculate with each other?
Vernacular translation: Boil beans to make bean soup, and filter beans to make juice. The beanstalk burns under the pot, and the beans cry in the pot. Beanstalk and beans are originally grown one by one. Why do they have to torture each other so much?
Seven Steps Poetry is a poem written by Cao Zhi, the son of Cao Cao, a scholar of Wei State in the Three Kingdoms period. This poem uses the seeds and beans from the same root to compare the half-brothers, and uses the seeds and beans to compare the flesh and blood brother Cao Pi who killed his younger brother, expressing strong dissatisfaction with Cao Pi, vividly and simply reflecting the cruel struggle within the feudal ruling group and the poet's own difficult situation and depressed thoughts and feelings.
But whether this poem was written by Cao Zhi is still controversial. Therefore, this poem is only recorded in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, whether it is a historical fact remains to be verified, and this poem is not included in Cao Zhiji.
Cao Zhi (192-232 65438+ February 27th) was born in Qiao County (now Bozhou City, Anhui Province), in Dongwuyang (now Shenxian County, called Juancheng City), the third son of Cao Cao and Wu Xuanbian, who was Chen Wang before his death.
Cao Zhi was a famous writer of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. As one of the representatives and epitomizers of Jian 'an literature, he was promoted to the position of a model article in the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. His representative works include Luo Shen Fu, White Horse, Seven Wounded Poems, etc. Because of his literary attainments, later generations are called "Three Caos" with Cao Cao and Cao Pi.
His poems are good at vigorous brushwork and thrush, and have been lost in 30 volumes. Today, The Collection of Cao Zijian was compiled by Song people. Cao Zhi's prose also has the characteristics of "appealing to both refined and popular tastes and elegant style", and its genre is rich and diverse, which makes him make outstanding achievements in this respect. Xie Lingyun, a writer in the Southern Song Dynasty, commented that "there is only one stone in the world, and Cao Zijian monopolizes eight fights". Zhong Rong, the author of "Poetry", also praised Cao Zhi for his "extraordinary personality, colorful words, elegant feelings and resentment, literary talent, overflowing in the present and standing out from the crowd." As the highest-ranking poet in the book "Poetry" and the founder of China's lyrical character, he has the historical position of "a generation of poets" in the history of poetry. Wang Shizhen evaluated the poets who have lived for two thousand years since the Han and Wei Dynasties as "immortals", including Cao Zhi, Li Bai and Su Shi.