Seven-step poem (Cao Zhi)
Boiled beans burn beans, beans cry in the kettle.
Originally born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry each other?
Cao Zhi was a famous literary scholar who was revered by many literati in ancient times. "There is only one stone in the world, and Cao Zijian has eight buckets." It's Cao Zhi. In a sense, Cao Zhi is sad. Cao Zhi wanted to rise to the throne and enter the political arena, but after Cao Pi ascended the throne, he suppressed the other Cao Wei clans and embankments; Cao Rui, who later ascended the throne, continued to suppress Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi has not realized his dream and is a very "pitiful" character. Moreover, Cao Zhi also has an anecdote of "seven steps into poetry": under the oppression of Cao Pi, he used his keen literary talent to become a poem in seven steps and escaped a disaster. This "Seven-Step Poem" has also been widely circulated and well known. However, many people have questioned whether the Seven Steps Poem was written by Cao Zhi. So is the "Seven Steps Poem" a work of Cao Zhi?
The Controversy between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi and the Seven-Step Poem
As we all know, there was a struggle between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi for the position of Wei Shizi. In fact, Cao Ang and Cao Chong died, and Cao Zhang devoted himself to the military, and the most powerful competitors were indeed Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. And Cao Cao was not a figure who followed the rules and had to fulfill the heir of the eldest son, which brought Great Opportunities to Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi, with Yang Xiu, Ding Yi, Ding Xi, Yang Jun, and others as his wings, competed with Cao Pi and once threatened Cao Pi's position.
However, Cao Pi's henchmen were more powerful, and Cao Pi himself was the eldest son of Cao Pi (Cao Ang died and Lady Bian became the head of the house), which was more legal. Moreover, Cao Zhi himself has a big problem, a wandering skeleton, he is more suitable to be a poet than a politician. Therefore, Cao Cao finally determined Cao Pi to be the son of the world, and after Cao Pi ascended the throne, he also liquidated Cao Zhi's henchmen. This historical background created the conditions for the production of the Seven Steps, in which Cao Zhi, as a loser and at the same time a great writer, was often more sympathetic to the literati.
Although the story of "Seven Steps" has become a household name, the editor still briefly tells the story. In fact, there are two versions of the story of the Seven Steps. One is that Cao Pi ordered Cao Zhi to write a poem in seven steps, and if he couldn't do it, he would kill him, Cao Zhi casually made a "seven-step poem", and Cao Pi then let Cao Zhi go; the other is that Cao Pi and Cao Zhi went out on a trip, and saw two cows fighting on the way, and one cow was pushed into the well and died. Cao Pi then ordered Cao Zhi to write four cross poems between a hundred steps, and there could be no words "ox", "well", "bucket", and "death". Cao Zhi first made the "Dead Cow Poem", and one hundred steps did not arrive, so he wrote the "Seven Steps Poem". Of course, according to this statement, the name of the Seven Steps Poem is not appropriate.
"The World Speaks Of New Languages and Literature": "Emperor Wen tried to order the King of Dong'a to compose poems in the seven steps, and those who did not succeed practice Dafa." ”
"Taiping Guangji Junjie Yi Cao Zhi": "Emperor Wen of Wei tasted to travel with Chen Si Wang Zhi... Edicts give death to cattle poems... Endowed, the step is still unfinished. Rewrote thirty self-congratulatory poems. ”
Whether the Seven Steps Poem was written by Cao Zhi
Many people include the Seven Steps poem in Cao Zhi's works, and many people think that the Seven Steps Poem is a pseudonym. The editor believes that the "Seven-Step Poem" is most likely not Cao Zhi's handwriting. There are several reasons for this:
I. The Seven-Step Poem is not found in the canonical history or in the early Cao Zhi anthology
In addition, many ancient books have recorded the "Seven Steps poem", such as the above-mentioned "Taiping Guangji Junjie Yi Cao Zhi", "Chuxue Ji Diqi Wang Zhi", "Zhaoming Wenxuan Xingzhi • Qi Jingling Wenxuan Wang Xingzhi", "Taiping Imperial Records • Wenbu Sixteen Si Diseases" (of course, there may be other classics, but the editor can only find these ones), of which except for the "Taiping Imperial Records , Wenbu SixteenThird Diseases" does not clearly state that it is from the "World Speaks New Language", and the rest of the classics are marked with the source, that is, "The New Language of the World". The early Collection of Cao Zhi during the Tang and Song Dynasties did not include the Seven Steps Poem. Therefore, from the perspective of the most original sources of historical materials, whether the "Seven-Step Poem" was written by Cao Zhi is a matter worth questioning and debating.
Second, the errors in "The New Language of the World"
Since the "World Speaks the New Language" is the most original historical material, we can analyze the "World Speaking New Language" to a large extent to judge the authenticity of the "Seven-Step Poem". And there is a saying in the "New Language of the World" that is wrong.
In the "New Language of the World", it is said: "Emperor Wen tried to order King Dong'a to compose poetry in the seven steps. "Emperor Wen is Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi, and King Dong'a is Cao Zhi. Let's take a look at the experience of Cao Zhifeng, recorded in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, The Biography of King Chen Xiao of Rencheng.
In the third year of the Huang Dynasty (i.e. 222 AD), Cao Zhi was enfeoffed as the King of Juancheng.
In the fourth year of the Huang Dynasty (223 AD), Cao Zhi migrated to the throne of Yongqiu.
In the first year of Taihe (227 AD), Cao Zhi migrated to the throne of Junyi.
In the second year of Taihe (228 AD), Cao Zhi migrated to the throne of Yongqiu.
In the third year of Taihe (229 AD), Cao Zhi migrated to the throne of Dong'a.
In the sixth year of Taihe (232 AD), Cao Zhi migrated to the throne of Chen.
Among them, Huang Chu is Cao Pi's era name, and Taihe is Cao Rui's era name. It is obviously incorrect to refer to Cao Zhi as "King of Dong'a" in the New Language of the World. Because Cao Fei had been king of Dong'a for at least three years, Cao Pi had died long ago. In addition, the same error occurred in the "Shishu Xinyu You Regret" recorded that Cao Pi poisoned and killed Cao Zhang. It can be seen that the credibility of Cao Pi's poisoning and killing of Cao Zhang is also relatively low.
"The New Language of the World, You Regret": "Emperor Wen poisoned zhu Zaodi... Whiskers, pawns. Revenge wants to harm Dong'a. ”
Third, the "Seven-Step Poem" does not conform to Cao Zhi's literary style and is illogical
Compared with the first two reasons, this reason is a bit subjective. Xiaobian is not guaranteed to be completely correct, for reference only. The first is the content of the Seven Steps Poem recorded in the New Language of the World.
"Boiled beans are held as a soup, and wet is used as juice." The beans are crying in the kettle. Born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry? ”
It can be seen that the "Seven-Step Poem" is sincere in feelings and clever in metaphor, but the style is simple and unpretentious, and there is no excessive embellishment. This is different from Cao Zhi's other works. Cao Zhi's style is "colorful and luxurious", with both shapes and bones. In order to seek more objectivity in the subjectivity, Xiaobian adopted two parts of Cao Zhi's works, one is the "Tongquetai Fu" created in the early Youyou period, and the other is the "Gift to the White Horse Wang Biao" in the later depression and grief period, which should be able to reflect Cao Zhi's writing style to a certain extent. Both early and later works are different from the Seven Steps.
"Tongque Tai Fu": "Look up to the spring wind and Mu Xi, listen to the sorrow of the birds." ”
"Gift to the White Horse Wang Biao": "Ohtani He Is silhouette, the mountain trees are lush and green." Rain mud I painted, flowing from the horizontal. ”
It is also logically inappropriate. The policies of the Cao Pi and Cao Rui dynasties of suppressing and controlling the feudal states had firmly controlled Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhi would not pose a threat to Cao Pi; even if Cao Pi carried a personal grudge, he would not use such "childish" means to attack his own reputation. Moreover, when Cao Zhi wrote "TongqueTaiFu", he "helped to write", showing a very high and keen literary talent, and Cao Pi was also present at that time and knew this very well. If Cao Pi really wanted to kill Cao Zhi, how could he use this method of using literature to make Cao Zhi difficult?
brief summary
Combining the above points, Xiaobian believes that the "Seven-Step Poem" is most likely not written by Cao Zhi, but a pseudonym of posterity. Due to the inclusion of "The New Language of the World" and the promotion of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the "Seven-Step Poem" has become a well-known literary work. Coupled with the old grudge between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi and Cao Pi's purge of Cao Zhi's henchmen, the "Seven Steps Poem" is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and is easily accepted by people. Later, the "Seven-Step Poem" was included in Cao Zhi's anthology, which is probably the reason.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, New Language of the World, Taiping Guangji