Poetry Writing Constraints

Chapters 78-80

Tons of plot in these chapters. Most importantly, we get the deaths of a major character (Cao Cao) and minor characters (Xiahou Dun, Hua Tuo, Liu Feng). Hua Tuo’s death is one of my favorites, given my love of lost books. His “Book of the Black Bag” that compiled all his medical knowledge was destroyed shortly after his death (p. 1390). 

The plot moves along quickly; Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi overthrows the Emperor and declares himself Emperor. Kongming then schemes to make the grieving Liu Bei into a sort of counter-Emperor.

We also get some of the best poetry in the book. After Cao Cao’s death, a succession crisis leads to the eldest brother demanding a poetry contest from Cao Cao’s favorite (p. 1403). Because of the context in which they are composed, they have more drama to them than the normal poems in the book. For the first one, the poet is told to write a poem about two bulls that fight, one of them dying in a well, but he can’t use the words “bull, fall, fell, dead, well.” It reminded me of the first creative writing prompt I remember seeing as an adult: “Write about someone who is at a lake that has just committed a murder. Don’t mention the murder.” The other poem from the brother also has a restriction. I found it to be more touching than the first: it is about the two brothers as fellow shoots from the same beanstalk. 

On Magic cards, we get the Ghostly Visit: Several ghosts of people that Cao Cao had killed haunted him before he died (p. 1393).