WeiCivil
曹植
Cao Zhi
Courtesy name: 子建 (Zijian)Lived: 192 ~ 232
Profile
Cao Cao’s son and the finest poet of the Jian’an age. Verse poured from his brush, and he was once favored as heir — until his free spirit cost him the succession to his brother Cao Pi. He spent the new reign shuffled between fiefs under watch, his frustration distilled into masterpieces like the Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess. Of the world’s ten measures of talent, the saying goes, eight belonged to Cao Zhi.
History vs. the novelHistoryvsNovel
The famous seven-pace poem comes not from the histories but from the later anecdote collection Shishuo Xinyu. The historical Cao Zhi petitioned the throne again and again, a genius at odds with his times.