Abstract: Both Mao Zedong and Cao Cao are historical giants, who have made outstanding contributions to the country, people and even the whole nation in different historical stages. They are not only politicians and military strategists, but also excellent poets and writers. Mao Zedong and Cao Cao, whether politicians, military strategists or poets, had a great and far-reaching influence on the development of China's poetry. The differences between his poems are manifested in genre form, content, style and aesthetic characteristics. It also influenced the development direction of China's poetry for a long time, and directly influenced the poetic style of many poets in China. In the development of poetry history, people can still see their profound influence on later poetry.
Keywords: Mao Zedong's poems and Cao Cao's poems
China has a history and culture of 5,000 years, and is a country of poetry with a long history. As early as Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, in order to vent the accumulated labor, mobilize people to actively produce labor and relieve fatigue, original poetry and oral creation appeared. Mr. Lu Xun said: "Literary activities come from productive labor." Laborers have been passed down from mouth to mouth, which is widely circulated among the people and widely sung. In the long and tortuous development, it was gradually sorted out by later generations, forming the earliest collection of poems in China, The Book of Songs. The appearance of The Book of Songs laid the foundation for the development of poetry in later generations, and opened the precedent of poetry creation in previous dynasties, which can be described as an immortal pioneering work in the literary corridor.
The Book of Songs has a lofty position in the history of China literature. It is the glorious starting point of China literature. With rich ideological content and exquisite artistic techniques, it has irrigated the vast garden of China's poems and cultivated writers and poets of all ages.
Under the great influence of The Book of Songs, Cao Cao and Mao Zedong, two great historical figures in different times, have slightly similar styles and characteristics in poetry creation, but they are slightly different. What makes future generations study more directly is that their poems are quite different in content, genre, style and aesthetic characteristics. History gives Mao Zedong and Cao Cao an evaluation that they are both politicians, military strategists and even better poets. However, their different times, classes and positions determine the different nature of their poems. After all, Cao Cao is a politician and writer of the landlord class. Due to the limitation of class and times, he has many ideas that are opposite to the people. His ambition and desire can only be to consolidate the dictatorship of the landlord class, and it is impossible to truly express the feelings of the working people, let alone lead the people to turn over and be masters of the country from the standpoint of the working people. Therefore, in his poems, people can only appear as victims. Such as "Hao" in "A raw louse, ten thousand people die. The bones were bare in the field, and there was no one among them, and there was no crowing. There are hundreds of people who left the legacy and broke their intestines. " From these simple and shocking tragic pictures, we can see that the masses of the people are the oppressed and the ruled, and they are the objects to be eliminated in order to achieve rule. At this point, it is quite different from the people reflected in Mao Zedong's poems. Because Comrade Mao Zedong is a great Marxist, a great proletarian revolutionist, strategist and theorist, the main founder and leader of China Production Party, China People's Liberation Army and People's Republic of China (PRC), the main founder of Mao Zedong Thought Theory, and a great poet universally recognized.
Mao Zedong's poetry is an important part of Mao Zedong Thought, a concrete embodiment of Mao Zedong's literary thought and a representative of advanced socialist culture. Mao Zedong's poems can be said to be "soul of china of New China" (in He Jingzhi). Mao Zedong, a great poet who won the New China, shocked the whole world like a spring thunder. "His poems are not only the soul treasure of China people, but also the soul treasure of people all over the world. Everyone loves it, recites it loudly, and gets education and beauty from it. " Mao Zedong's poetry is the soul treasure of China culture and a monument in the history of poetry. Guo Moruo is known as "Taishan Beidou". Mao Zedong's poetry is the development and innovation of Cao Cao's poetry. Comrade Mao Zedong commented on Cao Cao in the same way when commenting on Twenty-four History. He said that Cao Cao was a hero. He unified the north, ended the situation of aristocratic hegemony and maintained the normal production of agriculture in the Central Plains. We should not confuse his merits and demerits, but use the dialectical view of historical materialism to seek truth from facts and evaluate a historical figure correctly and objectively. He also said that Cao Cao's poems were vigorous, passionate and objective. For example, he wrote in the poem "Langtaosha Beidaihe" that "Wei Wu waved his whip and left it in Dongkaishi." It can be seen that Mao Zedong not only worships and admires Cao Cao, but also affirms the position and role of Cao Cao's poems in the history of literature.
But in any case, there are differences and differences between Mao's poems and Cao's poems in genre, content, style and aesthetic characteristics. Specifically, we can compare Cao's poems with Mao's from the above points.
First, the genre form
Cao Cao is the representative of Jian 'an style, and there are only 20 poems left in cash, all of which are Yuefu old-style poems, and most of them write current affairs in Yuefu old-style poems. Moreover, from his poems, we can see the spirit of the poet "dare to face the bleak life and the dripping blood" (Lu Xun's language). For example, in the well-known "Short Songs", "Singing to wine, life geometry! For example, morning dew is much more difficult to go to Japan. Be generous, and your troubles will be unforgettable. How to solve your worries? Only Du Kang. " At the beginning of the poem, the poet used the scenery in front of him to cheer up his spirit, and lamented the shortness of life and the passage of time with virtual reality, which showed the poet's calmness in the face of the natural laws of life. Another form of Cao Cao's expression is that he has opposed the tendency of attaching importance to form over content in literati's poems in Han Dynasty for hundreds of years, and he can really "weft the text with emotion and make the text quality", achieving the requirements of both emotion and quality, with both folk song characteristics and his own innovation.
Mao's poetry is a model of innovation on the basis of inheriting tradition in genre and expression. He is good at using allusions, fables and myths to satirize modern people, combining revolutionary realism with romanticism by using fu, comparison and xing, and creating a new philosophical artistic conception. While inheriting the genre of ancient poetry, the lines also reveal the new ideas of modern people. For example, The Long March, a catchy poem, combines the reality of the Long March with the author's romantic, open-minded and optimistic temperament, showing the difficulties and obstacles on the way to the Long March and the joy and joy of the Red Army soldiers after their victory in the Long March. Cao's poems and Mao's poems are separated by two thousand years, which were inherited and innovated by scholars in Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the era of Mao's poetry, although the genre of Cao's poetry can be found, it was far from a fixed pattern and genre at that time. In contrast, Mao's poetic genre is flexible and innovative, forming a new poetic genre in the new period.
Second, reflect the content.
Any literary work is created by directly or indirectly reflecting the writer's time. Cao Cao's poems and Mao's poems are no exception. Cao Cao's poems can be divided into two categories according to their contents: first, they reflect the social unrest and people's sufferings in the late Han Dynasty, such as Hao, Lu Xing, Qiu Lu Xing and Que Dongmen Xing. This kind of poetry is very realistic and profoundly reflects the desolation and grief of the times; The other is to express their ideals and ambitions, such as "Short Songs" and "Walking Out of Xiamen". This kind of poetry is magnificent and full of energy, which shows the positive spirit of a politician in troubled times.
According to Appreciation of Mao Zedong's Poetry edited by Tibetan scholars, the number of poems in Mao Zedong is 50 * * *. As far as the content reflected in the poem itself is concerned, Mao's poems are richer and more diverse than Cao's, breaking the "poetic expression" of traditional poems. Poetry can not only express feelings, but also be used as a tool for communication between people. Mao's poems satirize and criticize the darkness of society, such as Bodhisattva Mountain and Yellow Crane Tower. There is "Qinyuanchun Changsha" which shows the scholar's spirit; Friends from He Xinlang, (Seven Laws and Mr. Liu Yazi) and (Lin Jiangxian to Comrade Ding Ling) from friends and couples. There are descriptions of the war ("The Battle of Gui Jiang in Qingpingle") ("Xijiangyue Jinggangshan") and so on; There are also those who encourage soldiers, such as Qingpingle Liupanshan and Gift to Peng. In a word, Mao's poems are the history of China people's modern revolution and construction, the witness of the difficult course of China's revolution, and the record of life experience and emotion.
However, when we study and compare the poems of Cao and Mao, we will find that Mao's poems break through the fixed reflection mode in ancient poems and freely express their meaning in the world universe. Singing praises to sages, remembering the ancients, singing praises to nature, expressing revolutionary prospects and expressing lofty aspirations can be described as what the eyes see, what the ears hear, what the heart thinks and what the mind thinks, all without pen, reaching the realm of poetry. Most of Mao Zedong's poems were written in one go on horseback, but most of them were written after a happy mood and victory. Although it is a poem, it is not nonsense as a witness to the founding of New China. Of course, due to the different background of the times and historical limitations, Cao's poems are more quaint and monotonous in content than Mao's, but thicker in color.
Third, the style characteristics
Let's not talk about the similarities and differences in artistic style between Cao's poems and Mao's poems for the time being. It's just that their life experiences look similar. Their military career, Mercedes-Benz battlefield, brilliant, strategizing, winning thousands of miles. History gives the two great men basically the same evaluation. As a poet, Cao Cao deserves to be the representative of Jian 'an's character. The so-called "style of character" has various explanations, but it does not deny that it is a simple, vigorous, fresh, clear, straightforward and sad artistic style with rich content and strong appeal. Wang Shizhen once said that Cao Cao's poems are "ancient and straight, sad and full of charm". In a word, there are many people who have studied Cao Mao's poems recently, and there are different opinions. Let's compare the style of Cao Mao's poems from the perspective of poetry.
Out of Xiamen was written on the way of Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuhuan in 207 AD. Like Cao Cao's other poems, it was written in the ancient Yuefu. Although it was written when the army was in a daze, it had far-reaching and vigorous influence. In the prelude to Yan, which is quite the beginning of a group poem, he hastily expressed his lofty sentiments in the world and set a generous and exciting tone for the whole poem.
Cao Cao's "Journey to Autumn Deer" and "Hao" both narrate current events with elegies, completely getting rid of the old shackles of Yuefu classical poetry, directly reflecting the broad social life in the turbulent period at the end of Han Dynasty, and powerfully accusing the warlords of various evil consequences with simple and vivid descriptions. The Tree of the East commented on Autumn Dew in Zhao Wei's Show, saying: "This poem is heroic and vigorous, expressing the sorrow of ancient times directly, and its words are cadenced, bold and simple." The evaluation of Hao is: "Really simple, broad-minded and ambitious". His poem says: "A louse is born, and all surnames are dead. The bones were bare in the field, and there was no one among them, and there was no crowing. There are hundreds of people who left the legacy and broke their intestines. " Draw an inevitable sigh from the picture. At this point, the poet no longer needs to spend pen and ink, and people are eager for the stability of the motherland and the desire for reunification is fully revealed. How simple, ancient, straightforward, and how real and vivid.
In Cao Cao's poems, feelings and scenes are constantly changing, and you can often feel unrestrained from sadness. Space and time are constantly changing, which often gives people a sense of grandeur and distance. Cao Cao is better at expressing his aesthetic reverie by using virtual reality, giving less and giving more, seeing the big from the small and turning static into dynamic. For example, the immortal "short song is a wine song" expresses the poet's desire to think of the sages. To sum up, it can be seen that Cao Cao's simplicity, frankness, boldness, freshness and vigor are superb artistic techniques.
In my opinion, poetry is the release of the writer's spiritual world. I have always liked Cao's poems, which he called "masterpieces of great men". While learning to absorb Cao Cao's poetic style, he also has greater ambitions and ideals than Cao Cao. His poems express his ideals, describe the hard revolutionary life, and describe the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland with poems. In the final analysis, the style of Mao's poems is different from that of Cao's. It can be said that Mao's poems are full of domineering, arrogance, strangeness and heroism, as well as an elegant atmosphere and heroism.
Su Dongpo is a famous bold poet in history, but he doesn't have the lofty ambition and ambition like Mao Zedong, so his poems are not bold, vigorous, unyielding, bold, passionate and powerful. For example, "Niannujiao Kunlun": "Born", although this sentence has only four words, it shows a magnificent style. Another example is "Langtaosha Beidaihe": "The heavy rain fell on the swallows, and the white waves were overwhelming. Fishing boats fished outside Qinhuangdao, but Wang Yang was not seen. Who do you know? " "Heavy rain falls on a secluded swallow", which is really a surprise and highlights the heavy rain. Then say "white waves are sky-high" and write the majestic style of the waves. Mao's poems are not only heroic, but also strange, divine and overbearing. "Odd" means that Mao's poems are unexpected, unique and unpredictable, and win by difference. It is a breakthrough in formula, an innovation in tradition and a unique view of the objective world. "God" and "hegemony" are also reflected in Mao Zedong's poems, such as "Ask who is in charge of the ups and downs of the boundless earth" in "Spring and Snow in Qinyuan". Mao Zedong did not ask anyone, but only asked heaven and earth who is in charge today. It is conceivable that no one can tell Mao Zedong the answer except heaven and earth. Look at the poem "Niannujiao Kunlun", "Andrew drew his sword and cut you into three sections. One piece stays in Europe, one piece is given to the United States, and one piece is returned to the East. Peace in the world, the world is so cold and hot. " Only people with great personality and great ideals can write magnificent poems. It is precisely because of Mao Zedong's magnificent, broad, brilliant and unswerving ideals and ambitions that the spirit of perseverance has emerged, which is a spiritual force that shocks the soul.
Besides, Mao Zedong also used quantifiers in his poetry creation, and Mao Zedong was especially good at using quantifiers to shape poems and images. He used "Qian" and "Wan" the most. According to statistics, the word "10,000" has been used 32 times in the 67 works of Mao Zedong's Poems published by the Central Literature Publishing House. It was used three times in "Qinyuanchun Changsha" and "Fisherman's Proud Resistance to the First Great Encirclement" respectively. The word "ten thousand" is a big number, which has a sense of wholeness, comprehensiveness and universal significance. For example, Kun Peng is bound by a long tassel, All kinds of frosty days strive for freedom, and Qianshan is only idle. This huge and outstanding figure shows great and extraordinary external weather and heroic and majestic internal spirit, charm and momentum. This is also the expression of Mao Zedong's inner lofty spirit and lofty ambition. He created a unique aesthetic taste through the unique use of the word "Wan".
Secondly, Mao Zedong skillfully used the word "one", which was used 49 times in 67 poems. Words such as "a rooster sings all over the world", "a storm rises from the earth", "a bridge flies north and south", "a mountain flies to the river" and "a generation of tianjiao" are used with great momentum and boldness. "One" is a decimal and a large number. "One" is the whole, not the whole, covering everything. "One" is a word with macro-fuzziness, initiative and unique meaning, and has a strong expressive function. Mao Zedong skillfully uses the word "one" to express the grandeur and charm of his poems, which has a peculiar aesthetic taste.
Therefore, Mao Zedong's poetry has a unique artistic style. This is the individuality of Mao Zedong's poetry and the inheritance and innovation of Cao Cao's poetry style. The difference from Cao's poems is that Mao's poems are easy to understand and suitable for the people, but they do not lose their true colors. This feature that Cao's poetry does not possess is both national and contemporary, which influences and influences the development direction of China's poetry towards popularization.
Fourth, aesthetic characteristics.
By studying the poems of Cao and Mao, we can know that the aesthetic implications of Cao and Mao's poems are also quite profound, which can be expounded separately in combination with their works.
In Cao Cao's poems, no matter the scenery, narrative or history, his aesthetic characteristics can be reflected. The aesthetic characteristics of Cao's poems can be summarized as "big, strong, ancient and simple". He wrote that nature disdains every grass, tree, flower and stone, but focuses on the simplicity and growth of natural scenery. For example, if you write "Journey to the Sun and Moon" in the sea, it is because of it. If the stars and Han are brilliant, if they are unexpected, a few figures will highlight the heroic and profound character of going out to sea to deal with the sun and the moon. Another example is writing Gaoshan people "going north to Taihang Mountain". The sheep bend, the wheel urges. Although there is not much pen and ink, it makes Taihang Mountain majestic and steep, with rugged rocks. He wrote that the vegetation is "overgrown with vegetation and lush vegetation", and the majestic spirit is permeated between the lines. Therefore, Hu Yinglin said, "Is it unlucky for Wei Wu's talented people to rise, regardless of the use of troops, and their poems are heroic and cover their lives?" ("The World is External" Volume I). For another example, the poem "A Short Song to Wine" has many aesthetic features. On the aesthetic level, Cao Cao's poems have a rigid sublime beauty, a simple classical beauty and a magnificent scene. Therefore, in my opinion, the aesthetic taste of Cao Cao's poems is not as fresh, clear and generous as Mao's. Mao Zedong's poems are vivid, eclectic, lively and natural, and have an unparalleled dynamic beauty. He expressed the revolutionary feelings that stirred people's hearts, eulogized the great construction of new China, and expressed the magnificent spirit. His poems also show deep affection for the people, true feelings for friends and tenderness for relatives, showing a delicate and strong flavor of life and unparalleled beauty of human nature.
Therefore, the aesthetic characteristics of Mao's poems can be divided into majestic, solemn and shocking dynamic beauty; Magnificent, heroic and exciting sublime beauty; Delicate, sincere and touching human beauty are three aspects to show the aesthetic connotation of great men.
Beauty itself is the spiritual pursuit and unsatisfied trend of human beings, and the beauty expressed in the poems of Cao Cao and Mao Zedong just satisfied many later literati. The aesthetic significance of his poems is like a wonderful flower independent of the beauty of poetry, which shines forever and attracts many poetry creators to savor and appreciate it.
According to the above, we gradually know that Mao's poems are the expansion and development of Cao's poems after thousands of years. Although it has gone through thousands of years, it is not difficult to see the shadow of Cao's poems in Mao's poems. From the aspects of genre, content, style and aesthetic characteristics, the obvious difference between Cao's poems and Mao's poems is that Cao's poems represent a class and belong to some people, and only the class they represent owns him. Mao's poems belong to the working people, to the people of China, and to the people of the world, with the progressive breath of the times.
In a word, both Mao's poems and Cao's poems are based on 5,000 years of history and culture. China's literary system comes down in one continuous line, which permeates each other and is independent.