Wei was a kingdom during the Three-Kingdom period (220-280), we only mention Wei, because it was more outstanding in poetry than Shu and Wu Kingdoms. Jin (265-420) includes both Western Jin (265-316) and Eastern Jin (317-420) Dynasties. Wu Yan (五言) poetry, means five-character a lone poems.
Wu Yan poetry was evolved from “Yue Fu” poetry. It was formalized at the turn of the second century to the third century. We refer to this period in the Chinese history of literature as the “Jian An (建安) Era”. Jian An was the title of the reign of Emperor Xian of Han. During this period, Cao Cao was the Prime Minister of Wei; he and his two sons were leaders in the world of letters at the time. Besides three Caos, seven scholars were also famous. They not only carried on the tradition of “Yue Fu”—“touched by sadness or happiness and inspired by events”, but also laid a solid foundation for “Wu Yan” poetry.
曹操 (Cao Cao, 155-220) was a statesman, master of military affairs and a great poet. He became the Prime Minister of Wei in 209, in 214 was knighted the Duke of Wei, in 217 became the King of Wei and was conferred
A portrait of Cao Cao
the title Emperor Wu of Wei posthumously. There are only less than 20 poems of Cao Cao in existence today. They were all written in the form of 《Yue Fu Poems》, for instance 《薤露行, Xie Lu Xing, The Dew of Grass》 and 《蒿里行, Hao Li Xing, The Wormwoods》 were all titles in 《Yue Fu Poems》, but Cao Cao used them to write about current events of the time. In the latter, his sympathetic pen recorded the sufferings of the people in war:
铠甲生虮虱， Kǎi jiǎ shēng jī shī,
万姓以死亡， Wàn xìng yǐ sǐ wáng,
白骨露于野， Bái gǔ lù yū yě,
千里无鸡鸣， Qiān lǐ wū jī míng,
生民百遗一， Shēng mín bǎi yí yī,
念之断人肠。 Niàn zhī duàn rēn cháng.
Louses and their eggs are found in the armors,
Ten thousand people died,
Their white bones are exposed in the wilds,
No cock’s crow can be heard in a thousand li,
Only one out of a hundred is alive,
It’s heartbroken to think of the scene.
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