The White Horse Poem Meaning Essay

Song of the White Horse by Cao Zhi
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Song of the White Horse by Cao Zhi
The "Song of the White Horse" is a poem by Cao Zhi. This poem is about a powerful young warrior who walked, abandoned his individual life to fight and liberate his nation. In this poem, the young warrior walked away from his family, wife, and children and he was not concerned about his personal matters for the sake of his country. This poem was written reflecting the elites who were there during the author's period. Accordingly, the understudy will introduce the background of Cao Zhi the author of the poem ‘Song of the White Horse,' analyze the poem and also explore the thoughts and emotions of the author. Finally, the understudy will explain the social phenomenon portrayed by the poem.
Chao Zhi, the poet of the poem 'song of the white horse' was a prince in Cao Wei state in the Three Kingdoms. He was born in 192 AD in China as the third son of Cao Cao who was a warlord and Lady Bian. Cao Zhi had an elder brother Cao Pi who was a perceptive man. However, Cao Zhi was a man with low self-discipline although he was so possessed with political issues. Nonetheless, his elder brother had a closer affiliation with the subjects and servants who were around their father Cao Cao. This made Cao Cao select Cao pi as his successor which made Cao Zhi feel so much devastated. Once, Cao Zhi drove his chariot on the road that was preserved for his father's emperor which infuriated his father. This made Cao Cao appoint him to lead a rescue team in order to instill his discipline an offer that Cao declined. During this time Cao Zhi was very drunk that he could not manage to take his father's order. After some few months, his father died and Cao Zhi was sent away by his brother Cao pi and was also forbidden from involving himself with political issues.
However, during Cao Zhi lifetime he was a poet and his style of poetry was well-regarded during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Jin dynasty. His poetry style was later referred to as Jian'an style. Cao Zhi was the favorite son of Cao Cao because of his literary talent. However, Cao Zhi's poems were a conversion from the initial folk songs to scholarly poetry. Furthermore, today, more than 90 poems by Cao Zhi remains of which more than 60 poems are five-character poems which are held with high esteem for their influence in the expansion of five-character poetry during the early ages (Kroll, 2015). One of the most celebrated Cao Zhi's poem is "On the White Horse" which reflected a young, fearless warrior who served to the need of his nation. Despite the fact that Cao Zhi was referred to as a prince, he did not have a good life because the laws of his time were too harsh to him which caused him a severe depression and later died in 232 AD.
The ‘Song of the White Horse' is a poem that reflects the contributions of an elite who decides to fight for his country regardless of setbacks. During the Chao Zhi's period, his father was a war leader, therefore, in this poem, the author used the white horse as getaway towards the discovery of victory. The author describes the grim events of the war against the Huns. However, this poem feels like the author knew what he was t...