Five of Cao Cao's most famous poems

Cao Cao stepped out of Xiamen to see the sea.

On the east coast, climb Jieshi Mountain to see the vast sea.

The sea is so vast that the islands stand high on the sea.

Trees and paraquat are very lush. Autumn wind makes trees make sad sounds, and the sea is surging.

The movement of the sun and the moon seems to come from the vast ocean.

Journey to the sun and the moon, if you go out.

Han is a talented star, if you take him by surprise.

Fortunately, even! Sing with ambition.

To annotate ...

1 Jieshi: the name of the mountain. There are two kinds of Jieshi Mountain, which refers to Dajieshi Mountain at this time. One word refers to Jieshi Mountain in Changli County, Hebei Province.

② Lian: The water waves are swaying.

(3) stand tall.

4 xinghan: galaxy.

[background]

Looking at the Sea is a famous work of Cao Cao, which was written when he was wooing Wu Huan. In 207 AD, Cao Cao led an army to the north to hunt down the remnants of Yuan Shao, swore the Northern Expedition in May, and left Lulong Village in July to face Jieshi Mountain. He climbed the mountain and looked at the sea. Facing the surging sea, he wrote this magnificent poem.

[Appreciation]

The first two paragraphs point out the position of "watching the sea": the poet climbed to the top of Jieshi Mountain, high above it, with a broad vision and a panoramic view of the sea. The following ten descriptions are almost all derived from this.

"The water is full of water, and the mountains and islands are all scenery" is the general impression of seeing the sea at the beginning, which is a bit like a thick line in the painting. In this rippling sea, the first thing you see is the towering mountain islands, which are dotted on the flat and wide sea, making the sea look magical and spectacular. These two sentences roughly outline the prospect of the sea, which will be described in depth at different levels below.

"There are many trees and plenty of herbs. The autumn wind is bleak, and Hongbo surges. " The first two sentences specifically describe this mountainous island: although the autumn wind is bleak and the vegetation is withered, the island is lush with trees and rich in herbs, giving people a sense of business. The last two sentences are a further description of the sentence "What is water like?". Look carefully, the sea in the bleak autumn wind is actually a huge wave, surging and undulating. Here, although it is a typical autumn environment, there is nothing bleak and desolate. Facing the bleak autumn wind, the author wrote the vastness and magnificence of the sea: in the bleak autumn wind, the sea is rough and meets the sky; The mountain island is tall and straight, with lush vegetation and no fading and sentimental artistic conception. This new realm and new style just reflect his "martyr" mind.

"The trip to the sun and the moon, if unexpected; Xinghan is brilliant, if it is unexpected. " The previous description is observed from the sea. These four sentences are related to the vast universe, presenting the momentum and strength of the sea to readers: the vast sea is connected with the sky and the air is turbid; In front of this magnificent sea, the sun, the moon, the stars and the Han (the Milky Way) are all small, and their operation seems to be freely absorbed by the sea. The sea described by the poet here is not only the real scene in front of him, but also his own imagination and exaggeration, which shows the magnificent atmosphere of the universe and is full of the momentum of "the five mountains start from the square". This kind of "cage cover breathing atmosphere" is the artistic realm of the poet's "eyes" and "chest". From the heart, if the poet had no grand political ambition, no ambition to make contributions, and no optimistic attitude full of confidence in the future, he would never have written such a magnificent poetic scene. In the past, some people said that Cao Cao's poems were "domineering" (in Shen Deqian), referring to works such as Looking at the Sea.

"Fortunately, Lian, the song is to be sung." This is a group of words in the chorus, which has nothing to do with the content of the poem and needs no elaboration.

[Function]

Literally, the sea, mountain islands, vegetation, autumn wind, and even the sun, moon and stars are all immediate scenery. This poem describing natural scenery seems to have never been written by Cao Cao in the history of China literature. It not only describes the whole landscape, but also has its own style. It is the earliest masterpiece of landscape poetry in China, especially loved by literary historians. This poem, written on the autumn sea, can wash away the sentimental sentiment of sad autumn and is vigorous and magnificent, which is closely related to Cao Cao's tolerance, personality and even aesthetic taste.

In this poem, scenery and emotion are closely combined. By writing about the sea, the author expressed his ambition to unify China and make contributions. But this kind of feeling is not directly revealed in the poem, but contained in the description of the scenery, which contains feelings. Every sentence is about the scenery and every sentence is lyrical. Although the six sentences in "What's Water" are depicting the vibrant sea scenery, they are actually praising the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland and revealing the author's feelings of loving the motherland. Seeing the magnificent scenery of the motherland's mountains and rivers aroused the poet's strong desire to unify the motherland. So with the help of rich imagination, to fully express this desire. The author compares himself to the sea and expresses the poet's broad mind and heroism by writing about the momentum of the sea devouring the universe. His feelings are unrestrained but subtle. Sun and Moon is the climax of landscape writing and the author's emotional development. Poets in the Song Dynasty said that Cao's poems were "as full of vitality as veteran Yan". The poem "Looking at the Sea" has a broad artistic conception and is magnificent, which conforms to the demeanor of an aspiring politician and strategist. Reading its poems really makes people feel like people.

In the 12th year of Jian 'an (207), Cao Cao led an army to conquer Wuhuan, which was a great disaster in Northeast China at that time. This is an important war in Cao Cao's great cause of reunifying the north. On the way to the expedition, I wrote the Yuefu poem "Out of Xiamen" (belonging to "Harmony Song, Sediao Song"). This group of poems consists of five parts, starting with the word "Yan", that is, preface poems. The following articles are named after poems, namely Watching the Sea, Winter in October, He (also known as Different Land) and Guifengshou. From the perspective of music melody, the five parts are a whole, and from the perspective of lyrics, the four parts can be independent.

Seeing the Sea was written in September this year, and Cao Cao climbed Jieshi Mountain on his way to the victory class in Wuhuan. This four-character poem depicts the magnificence of the motherland's rivers and mountains through the natural scenery that the poet saw when he climbed to the sea. It not only depicts the moving images of mountains and seas, but also expresses the heroic and optimistic enterprising spirit of the poet. It is a masterpiece describing natural scenery in Jian 'an period and one of the earliest representative works of China's classical landscape poems. In the first two sentences, "Jieshi looks at the sea in the east", the poet came to the foot of Jieshi Mountain and climbed to see the sea during the Northern Expedition. Jieshi Mountain was originally located in the southwest of Laoting County in Hebei Province (northwest of Changli County in Hebei Province). The Han Dynasty was still on land, facing the Bohai Sea. Due to the geological changes in the Six Dynasties, it sank into the sea. When the poet climbed Jieshi Mountain and looked down at the sea, he saw: "Where is the water, where are the mountains and islands?" . Even, the water waves are not exciting. The towering appearance of the island. When the poet climbs the mountain, what he can see is the endless sea, and the islands in the sea stand tall. What a spectacular sight it is! In history, both Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi visited here, carving stones and watching the sea. Now, the poet stands in the place where Qin Huang and Hanwu traveled, commanding, looking at the vast sea and towering islands in the sea, thinking that the Central Plains region has been pacified, the northern expedition to Wuhuan has also won a decisive victory, and the reunification of the north is about to be realized. How excited he is! At this time, the poet's eyes were fixed on the island at sea, and in front of him was a vibrant scene: "There are more trees and more grass. The autumn wind is bleak, and Hongbo surges. " The trees are covered with grass, and they grow very luxuriantly. A bleak autumn wind blew and the sea was rough. Although the bleak autumn wind gives people a feeling of sadness and killing, the vigorous grass shows its heroic nature; Hongbo is surging, and the more you see it! This is a true description of the natural environment and a concrete portrayal of the poet's subjective feelings. After winning a series of wars, Cao Cao felt that his great achievements were as full of vitality as flowers and trees, and also full of vitality for the surging sea. Below, the poet developed a rich imagination and further described the magnificent spirit and broad mind of the sea embracing the sun and the moon. "The trip to the sun and the moon, if unexpected; Xinghan is brilliant, if it is unexpected. " The movement of the sun and the moon seems to linger in the arms of the sea, and the brilliant Milky Way stars seem to be wrapped in the belly of the mother sea. Look, this is the spirit of the sea, the mind of the sea. It's spectacular, it's spectacular.

The poem Looking at the Sea is full of scenery, in which there are no words to express feelings directly, but reading the whole poem can still make people feel the feelings deeply entrusted by the poet. Through the poet's vivid description of stormy waves, we seem to see Cao Cao's great ambition and grand mind of forging ahead and unifying the whole country, and touch the flow of his thoughts and feelings in a typical environment as a poet, politician and strategist. The whole poem is simple in language, rich in imagination, magnificent, desolate and tragic, which has been greatly appreciated by readers of all ages. Shen Deqian commented that this poem "has a cosmic flavor" in "The Origin of Ancient Poetry". This is very accurate.

Appreciation of Cao Cao's short songs

In the 13th year of Jian 'an (A.D. 208), Cao Cao led his troops south to spread out the Yangtze River in order to wipe out Sun Liujun in one fell swoop. On the night of 1 1 month 15 this winter, the moon was in the sky and the river was calm. Cao Cao inspected the water village by boat, and then invited the generals to dinner. When the wine was hot, I suddenly heard the reputation of crows flying south. Feeling this scene, Cao Cao wrote a poem and sang this famous poem-a short song.

How did Cao Cao feel on the eve of the war? The only word "worry" can always be tso's mood. "Why worry? Only Du Kang ". Can Dukang wine really solve Cao Gong's worries? Throughout the short song, good wine didn't really relieve Cao Cao's worries, so what kind of worries made this talented politician and strategist "raise a glass to drown his sorrows and be sentimental"?

One worry is that "life is too short". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, many talented people wanted to seize the opportunity to make contributions. At this time, Cao Cao has made great achievements, but these brilliant achievements also took him too much time (Cao Cao is 54 years old). He encountered many setbacks and failures, so he was deeply impressed by the difficulty of struggle and the ruthlessness of time passing. "If it is morning dew, it is difficult to go to Japan." The shortness of life and anxiety weigh heavily on him, making him feel the "geometry of life". Moreover, at that time, "life was less than 100, and I often worried that I was one thousand years older." The decadent idea that "the days are short and the nights are long, why not swim by candlelight" is quite popular among those literati who have no ambition and cannot extend it. Cao Cao, who lived in that era, was inevitably influenced by this concept and had to resort to the way of "taking wine as a song" to solve his worries.

The second is to worry about "seeking the virtuous". Taking lamenting "life is short" as the starting point and destination of poetry is only the ideological realm of ordinary literati. After all, Cao Cao is Cao Cao. He just took this lament as the basic point of the emotional development of this poem, and in this form of whispering and singing, he laid the foundation for the passionate and talented heart music behind him. At that time, in order to develop their own power, warlords of all walks of life were trying their best to recruit talents. Sun Quan has Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Zhang Zhao, Liu Bei has Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and so on. Even people like Liu Biao have advisers. Although Cao Cao has many advisers, in order to accomplish the great cause of unifying the world, he hopes that the talents of the world will gather here. In the process of Cao Cao's enthusiastic pursuit of virtue, anxiety and pain came to him from time to time. Let's listen to Cao Cao's voice: wise man, I am as eager for your arrival as a woman in love. I've thought it over for you. Come to my side! After you come, I must set a banquet and have a good time. I sincerely welcome you! But wise man, you are like the moon in the sky. When will you come to me? Here, the idea of "seeking the virtuous" gushed from my heart like a flood, and it was really "the trouble came from it and could not be cut off".

Three worries about "unfinished business" can be said to be the worry that hangs over the whole article, the worry that "life is too short" and the worry that "seeking merit is not allowed" all come from this. Unifying the world is the goal of Cao Cao's life. At present, the future of Battle of Red Cliffs is uncertain. As a far-sighted and eager general, can he have no such worries? I want to learn from all the rivers, and I want to learn from Duke Zhou that "one acre is divided into three places, one meal is spit and one feed", isn't it just to realize my big wish? However, this ambition has not yet become a real reality, and the anguish of "unfinished business" still haunts my mind.

When talking and laughing, you can't get drunk tonight! Short Songs shows us the heroic qualities of Cao Cao as a generation of politicians from another side: he has a loving and polite open mind; He has great ambition to unify the world; He has the enterprising spirit of opening up new fields. Although he also has "worries" and "deep worries", his "worries" are based on the height of the country and the perspective of heroes, which can never be dispelled by Du Kang wine.