The Background, Content and Characteristics of Poetry in the Late Eastern Han Dynasty

From the Jian 'an period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the early Cao Wei period, three Cao and seven sons came out at the same time. Honest and frank's sad Cao Cao, graceful and restrained Cao Pi, and Cao Zhi, who is both a father and a brother, completed the final transformation of Yuefu folk songs into literati poems with the wings of "Jian 'an seven sons" and opened up the broad road of five-character poems. The famous ones are Cao Cao's Short Songs, Cao Pi's Beautiful Songs, Cao Zhi's White Horse Wang Biao and White Horse Pieces. Cao Zhi is the most respected poet in Jian 'an, because his literary talent is gorgeous, which has a great influence on the development of five-character poems, and his unfortunate life experience has aroused the admiration of later scholars. Five-character poetry is the main form of China's classical poetry. It took a long time from folk songs to literati writing, and by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, literati five-character poems were becoming more and more mature. The mature stage of five-character poems is marked by the appearance of Nineteen Ancient Poems. Nineteen ancient poems are not works of one person at a time. The content of this poem mainly tells about parting, lovesickness and feelings about the shortness of life. Being good at expressing emotion and making good use of metaphor is the greatest artistic feature of Nineteen Ancient Poems. "Jian 'an Style" is a distinctive and energetic style in Jian 'an literature, especially in five-character poems. Based on the writer's generous thoughts and feelings, he has formed the characteristics of deep ambition, broad outline, sadness and generosity. The distinctive personality and characteristics of the times have become the unique charm of Jian 'an's poetic style.