宋元话本中的曹操形象与知人论世的批评视角使《短歌行·对酒当歌》被释为曹操求贤若渴与功业未成之作，这种阐释首先未注意到诗歌文本中的“互文性”，其次未意识到诗歌空间与现实空间的情感差异，最后忽略了儒学在东汉末年对贵族人格塑造的影响，文本内部的情感矛盾与张力由此被消解。《短歌行·对酒当歌》实质是曹操士大夫情结的展现，文本内部曹操对社会伦理结构的寻求以及现世“明君”缺位的失落，与文本外部组诗思想的一致性以及“游仙诗”的创作模式，皆彰显出曹操对于士大夫身份的追求。

Traditional interpretations of Cao Cao's Short-Song Ballad: Singing to Wine, influenced by his image in Song and Yuan narratives and a contextual criticism framework, often regard the poem as an expression of his yearning for talented individuals and frustration over unfulfilled ambitions. However, such readings fail to address three critical dimensions: first, the "intertextuality" embedded within the poem; second, the emotional divergence between the poetic and real -world spaces; and third, the impact of Confucian thought on shaping aristocratic personalities during the late Eastern Han Dynasty. These omissions dissolve the emotional contradictions and tensions within the text. Short-Song Ballad: Singing to Wine essentially reflects Cao Cao's attachment to the ethos of the scholar-official class. Internally, the poem conveys Cao Cao's pursuit of a stable social and ethical structure and his disillusionment with the absence of a "wise ruler" in the real world. Externally, the thematic coherence across the poem series and the influence of the "wandering immortal poetry" tradition highlight Cao Cao's aspiration for the scholar-official identity.