1. Seven-Step Poetry

The beans are boiling and the beans are weeping in the cauldron.

They are born from the same roots, so why rush each other?

Boil the beans to make soup, and drain the bean sprouts to make juice.

The leaves are burning under the cauldron, and the beans are weeping in the cauldron.

We are born from the same root, so why rush each other?

Analysis: When talking about Cao Zhi’s poetry, this seven-step poem is absolutely necessary. Friends who have watched "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" must have a deep memory. Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi was dissatisfied with Cao Zhi, so he ordered Cao Zhi to compose a poem in seven steps. If he failed, he would be punished. Cao Zhi immediately agreed. After walking seven steps, he composed a poem, which is this seven-step poem. After hearing this, Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi felt very ashamed. So, what is the heptameter about? The meaning of the poem is that the beans are boiling in the pot, the bean straw is burning under the pot, and the beans are crying inside the pot. Beans and bean straw originally grew from the same root. How could the bean straw cook the beans in such a hurry?

This poem uses Bixing's technique, the language is simple, and the meaning is clear. You can understand the meaning without further explanation. The meaning is self-evident. Cao Zhi expresses his inner feelings through the daily phenomenon of burning beans and boiling beans. Sad and angry. Cao Zhi's metaphor is wonderful, his words are clever, and he blurts it out in an instant, which is really breathtaking. In particular, the two sentences "We are born from the same roots, so why rush to fight against each other" have become common expressions for people to advise people to avoid brothers fighting against each other and killing each other for thousands of years. This also shows from another perspective that this poem is extremely popular among the people. widely.

2. White Horse

The white horse is adorned with golden restraints and gallops to the northwest.

May I ask whose son I am, You Bingyou Xiaer.

When I was young, I went to the countryside and raised my voice in the desert.

In the past, there was a good bow, but the arrows were uneven.

If you control the string and break the left side, the right side will break the moon branch.

Raise your hands to catch flying zodiac dogs, bend down to scatter horse hooves.

Cunning as a monkey, brave as a leopard.

There are many policemen in border towns, and many captives and cavalry are migrating.

Yu Xi came from the north and rode up the high embankment.

The long march drives the Xiongnu, and the left guard Ling Xianbei.

Abandoning one’s body at the sharp edge, is one’s life safe?

If parents don’t care, how can they talk about their children and their wives!

When compiling the records of strong men, no selfish considerations are allowed.

Sacrificing one's life to the national disaster, seeing death as a sudden return home!

Analysis: I learned this poem in a high school Chinese textbook. It describes and praises a young hero in the border area who is highly skilled in martial arts and full of patriotic spirit. There have always been different opinions about the person he was praising. Some say it is about his younger brother Cao Zhang, while others say it is about Huo Qubing, the hussar general of the Han Dynasty. But after reading it, I felt that it was neither of the two. It should be written about myself, encouraging myself to kill the enemy as bravely as Huo Qubing, the hussar general of the Han Dynasty.

Cao Zhi used this poem to express his ambition to serve the country. The heroic image in the poem is not only a self-portrait of the poet, but also condenses and shines the glory of the times, giving Cao Zhi an important representative work in his early period. Strong youthful atmosphere.

3. Seven Sorrow Poems

The bright moon shines on the high building, and the streamer is lingering.

There is a sad and longing woman above, who laments more than she can.

Who is the one who sighs? It is said that she is a wife.

You have been away for more than ten years, and your concubine often lives alone.

You are like clear road dust, and I am like muddy cement.

The ups and downs of different forces, when will they meet and harmonize?

May I be the southwest wind and pass away forever in your arms.

If you keep your good intentions, how can you rely on your humble concubine?

Analysis: After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi succeeded to the throne and was very wary of Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi was full of ambitions and had nowhere to put them, but his brothers were always on guard against him, which made Cao Zhi frustrated. Cao Zhi knew that he had no hope of success, so he pinned his sorrow on the sorrow of his resentful wife who had the same emotions as him.

This poem is very bleak. Cao Zhi compares himself to a slut, uses the unfortunate experience of an abandoned woman to compare his situation of being excluded, and expresses his longing for his wife and her husband. Divorce is a metaphor for the alienation between him and the emperor Cao Pi, who is simply stranger than a passerby. Cao Zhi felt the disparity in situation between him and his brothers, and secretly expressed his sincere heart to miss the king and serve the country. However, Cao Pi's ruthlessness and unrighteousness made Cao Zhi extremely angry and revealed a sense of infinite sadness. The whole poem starts from the lamentation of an abandoned woman, and every sentence alludes to her own experience. Looking back at Cao Pi's behavior, he showed lack of confidence in his throne, probably inheriting Cao Cao's suspicious character.

4. Beauty Chapter

The beautiful lady is idle, picking mulberries on the crossroads.

The soft branches are growing slowly, and the leaves are falling gracefully.

You can see the bare hands on the sleeves, and the bright wrists are about to have golden rings.

He has a golden hairpin on his head and a jade-colored bandana on his waist.

Pearls are intertwined with jade bodies, and corals are intertwined with trees.

Why are the robes fluttering? The light skirts are returned with the wind.

Gu Pan’s legacy is glorious, and his roar is like an orchid.

Travelers use their rest to drive, while those who take a break forget their meals.

I would like to ask my daughter to live in peace, which is at the south end of the city.

The brothel faces the main road, with a high gate and many gates.

Who doesn’t want to be beautiful and beautiful?

Where does the matchmaker operate? Jade and silk are always safe.

Beautiful women admire high righteousness, but it is difficult to find virtuous people.

Everyone is moaning, how can you know what he is seeing?

When I was in my room in my prime years, I sighed deeply in the middle of the night.

Analysis: Cao Zhi is a man with very political ideals. He is eager to make a difference in politics. However, under the persecution of Cao Pi and his son, he lives a life in captivity. He has talents but cannot get them. When I got the chance to express myself, I wrote this song "Beauty Chapter".

The content of the poem is about a pretty girl who is picking mulberries in the mulberry forest on the roadside. Her white wrists, golden bracelets, and a golden hairpin in her head are green. The gauze skirt is fluttering in the wind, very beautiful. When she was picking mulberries, she whistled, and her breath was like the fragrance of orchids. Pedestrians on the roadside were fascinated by it and stopped to watch. Who wouldn’t want to have such a beautiful girl? However, girls prefer virtuous people, but when they don't meet virtuous people, they can only lament in the boudoir.

The meaning of this poem is very profound, and the metaphorical meaning is also very unique. This poem is similar to "Mo Shang Sang".

Beautiful women love men of noble character and want to find a virtuous husband, but this is really difficult. There is an implicit metaphorical meaning here, that is, it is a metaphor for people with lofty ideals who have ideals, but it is difficult to realize them. The ideal of beauty is not something that ordinary people can understand, but with so much noise and discussion, how can they know what kind of person she likes. This is a metaphor that ordinary people do not understand the ideals of lofty ideals. The beautiful woman was in the prime of her youth, but she lived alone in her boudoir, feeling sad and resentful. She stayed up late at night and sighed. This is a metaphor for the anguish of an ambitious person whose talent is not recognized. In this poem, a peerless beauty is used as a metaphor for a man with ideals and ambitions, and a beautiful woman who refuses to marry expresses the unrecognized talent of a man with high ideals. It was also Cao Zhi’s own lament about not being reused.

5. One of seven miscellaneous poems

There is a sad wind on the high platform, and the morning sun shines on the northern forest.

My son is thousands of miles away, and the rivers and lakes are far and wide.

The Ark is very safe, but it’s hard to think about it!

The lone wild goose flies south and passes by the court president mourning.

I long for people far away and wish to leave my legacy.

The shadow suddenly disappears, Pianpian hurts my heart.

Analysis: Xiao Tong's "Selected Works" selected seven poems from Cao Zhi's "Miscellaneous Poems", and this is the first of them. This poem is a poem about missing relatives and friends who are far away. Its meaning is that the sad wind often blows on the high platform, and the morning sun shines on the northern forest. At this time, the person I miss is thousands of miles away, and the rivers and lakes are far and deep. How can this boat arrive smoothly? It is really difficult to place my nostalgia. When I looked up, I saw the lone goose flying south across the courtyard. The long whine was really nerve-wracking. Looking at the lone goose, I was thinking, let the lone goose bring a message to me, but the lone goose flew over without paying attention, and the flying shadow It makes me even more heartbroken.

This is like saying that I miss a woman in the distance. She is far away from me. I really want to see her, but there is no direct train. I want to see the wild geese flying in the sky. I went to write a letter, but the geese didn't even bother me, which made me feel even sadder. In the turbulent and wandering era of the late Han Dynasty and early Wei Dynasty, it was a very common phenomenon to be separated from each other without being able to reunite or even see each other. If a person is killed by a bad person while walking on the road, he will not know it even in his sleep. In troubled times, human life is as worthless as a piece of grass.

Another thing to say is that from a literary point of view, the writing style of this poem seems to be shallow and straight, but the meaning is deep and melodious. The first six sentences are mainly fu style, but they seem to be Bixing; the last six sentences are It is mainly based on Bixing, but it is closer to futi. This shows that Cao Zhi learned the true inheritance of the Book of Songs and used the new five-character genre to compose new poems. Therefore, judging from the works of poets since Jian'an, Cao Zhi's poems should be regarded as the last song.