how to appreciate poetry

2021-01-30 来源：好走旅游网

Poetry --- the highest form of the language

Basic terms

Line, stanza, quatrain, couplet

Couplet双行体: two successive lines, usually of equal length and rhythmic节奏 correspondence, with end-words that rhyme.

Farwell, too little, and too lately known,

Whom I began to think and call my own:

Dryden To the memory of Mr. Oldham

Basic of knowledge about poetry

I. Elements of Poetry (Poetic form)

1. Rhyme 韵

the repetition at regular intervals in a line or lines of poetry of similar or identical sounds based on a correspondence between the vowels and the succeeding sounds

远上寒山石径斜,

白云深处有人家。

停车坐爱枫林晚,

霜叶红于二月花

杜牧<山行>

{1} in terms of syllable 押韵的音节

When the rhyming sounds involve only one syllable, it is called masculine rhyme男韵 /单韵, 如：late, fate; hill, fill; enjoy, destroy.听起来短促，强劲有力Used to describe the hero or the battle.

When the rhyming sounds involve two or more syllables, it is called feminine rhyme押韵押在两个音节上，后一音节非重读音节，称女韵、双韵，听起来轻柔幽婉。如：lighting, fighting; motion, ocean; wining, beginning.

e.g.

I am coming, little maiden,

With the pleasant sunshine laden;

With the honey for the bee,

With the blossom for the tree.

{2}In terms of position

If the one or both rhyming words are within the line, it is called internal rhyme行间韵. E.g. the grains beyond age,

the dark veins of her mother.”

If the both rhyming words occur at the ends of lines, it is called end rhyme尾韵. （the commonest sound repetition in English poetry）E.g.

“Three poets, in three distant ages born. Greece, Italy, and England did adorn,”

{3} full rhyme全韵，严格的押韵

韵要押在重读音节上，其元音应相同；如果元音之后有辅音，应相同；重读音节之后如有轻读音节，也应相同。

why---sigh; hate---late; ending---bending.

Eye rhyme“眼韵” is formed by words that look like a rhymed unit but do not have the same sounds. 外形相似，读音不同

For example, blood----hood，“home” and “some “, “hear” and “bear.”

half rhyme仅是辅音相同或仅是元音相同的属半韵：

[1] Alliteration头韵

the repetition of consonants, especially at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. 重读音节/单词的首音节为辅音，一行中此类辅音的重复（大于等于2）

Poetry in Middle age (Beowulf)

“Kindest to kinsmen and keenest for fame”

while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping. Poe The Raven

Assonance半谐音, 谐元音

is the repetition of similar vowel sounds within a noticeable range(usu in one line). 元音相同，其后的辅音不同

e.g.

“All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone,

Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone.”

Consonance谐辅韵(元音不同，其前后的辅音相同) is the repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowels.

e.g. “tit” and “tat,” “creak” “crack”

Rhyme scheme押韵格式

Any fixed pattern of alternating end rhymes尾韵 in a stanza of poem.

In analysis of a rhyme scheme, each rhyme is represented by a small letter, thus a rhyme scheme looks like “ababcc.”

e.g. the rhyme scheme of the following stanza is ababc, and marked as;

Love is a sickness full of woes, [a]

All remedies refusing; [b]

A plant that with most cutting grows, [a]

Most barren with best using. [b]

Why so? [c]

blank verse无韵诗: unrhymed iambic pentameter

2．Metrical Rhythm 格律节奏

A more complex aspect than the rhyme of poetry is rhythm communicated by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.

诗歌是具有音乐性的语言(originally from the songs sung by the minstrels)。音乐作品的最大特点之一是音符的流动是有节奏的。所谓节奏就是强拍和弱拍按一定的形式配合起来，有规律地反复出现。中国古诗讲究平仄,富有节奏,英文没有平声、仄声之分，但有重读轻读音节之分，其节奏是通过重读音节与轻读音节stressed and unstressed syllables.表现出来的。

一个重读音节与一个或两个轻读音节按一定的模式搭配起来，有规律地反复出现就是英文诗歌的节奏。

To discuss the discuss the rhythm of a poem, the following terms are very useful.

Meter :格律/韵律(metre)

“meter” refers to the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Usually, a stressed syllable is marked with “/”, and an unstressed syllable is marked with “U”.

韵律：重读和非重读音节的搭配方式

构成英诗节奏的基础。

Names for Meters: 韵律/格律类型 Iamb(iambic)抑扬格:

an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Its pattern is like this : re peat com pare

U /

抑扬格很符合英语的发音规律。因此，在英文诗歌中用得最多的便是抑扬格

I wan / der’d lone / ly as / a cloud.

U / U / U / U /

(Wordsworth, The Daffodils)

anapest (anapestic/anapaestic ) 抑抑扬格: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

Its pattern: U U /

in ter fere; dis be lieve; on the hill

Like a child / from the womb, / like a ghost /

U U / U U / U U /

from the tomb,

U U /

I arise / and unbuild / it again,

UU / U U / U U /

(Percy B. Shelley, The Cloud)

trochee (trochaic) 扬抑格:

a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

e.g. / U un it, ha ppy, ho ly

Art is / long, and / Time is / fleeting

/ U / U / U / U

(Longfellow, A Psalm of Life)

dactyl (dactylic) 扬抑抑格

a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllable. Its pattern is like this: / U U mer ci ful; pro per ly

Merrily / merrily / shall I live / now

/ U U / U U / U U / (William Shakespeare, The Tempest)

spondee (spondaic) 扬扬格: a stressed syllable followed by another stressed syllable.

Its pattern : / / heart break

pyrrhic抑抑格 a unstressed syllable followed by another unstressed syllable. U U

P. s.这些韵律类型只是理论上的分析，实际上，一首诗仅用一种韵律写的情况极为少见，大多是以某一种为主，同时穿插其他类型。如果一首诗只含有一种韵律，就会显得非常单调机械。一首诗只要是以某种类型为主的，尽管有其他类型穿插其中，也称此诗为某某格。如，以抑扬格为主要节奏写成的，就称此诗为抑扬格诗。

现代兴起的一些自由诗（FREE VERSE），不受这些格律的限制。most common in the twentieth century, but by no means unique to it — has no fixed metrical foot, and often no fixed number of feet per verse. 现代诗中常见的体式，长短不同的诗行存在于同一首诗中，不讲究押韵与格律，只注重诗歌所表达的意象和传递的情感。

Whitman/ modern poetry in 20th century

“In a Station of the Metro” 地铁站台 Pound

The apparitions of these faces in the crowd; 人群中出现的那些脸庞;

Petals on a wet, black bough Note: apparitions幽灵,幻影

e.e.Cummings’ L(a):

L(a

one

潮湿黝黑树枝上的花瓣.

iness

Foot(音步)

A unit of poetic meter of stressed and unstressed syllables is called a foot. Meter的单位名称

Name for Feet:

monometer: one foot.

dimeter; two feet.

trimeter: three feet.

tetrameter: four feet .

pentameter: five feet.

hexameter; six feet.

heptameter: seven feet.

octameter : eight feet.

Try to analyze the poetic form of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

划分音节（重读和非重读音节），然后从中找到规律确定格律类型（一般只需推断出前两个音步的重读和非重读音节的组合规律，后面的基本相同），最后确定所含音部数量

一般来说，语音学中规定的虚词（介词、连词、冠词、情态/助动词）轻读，实词重读；另外，含两个音节或以上的以字典发音的规定确定重读或非重读音节；但是，有时根据上下文的需要为强调某一部分，这些规律可能会有所改变。

the syllables are arranged in the pattern of the unstressed and stressed(U/), so the meter is iambic.

And each of the lines contains five iambic units, so the lines are written in pentameter.

The metrical rhythm格律节奏

of these lines are iambic pentameter.

The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

Poetic form:

This poem consists of 14 iambic pentameter lines , divided into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. The English/Shakespearean Sonnet

II. Poetic Devices

Poetry uses language as its only tool to communicate meanings and emotions. It has to be intense. Therefore, poetry has to make the fullest use of language. It uses every aspects of language. The history of poetry has given some particular usages of language more significance than others. Listed below are mostly figures of speech.

1. Simile

2. Metaphor

3. Personification

4. Hyperbole

5. Symbol e.g. the eyes of heaven

6. Conceit奇思妙想, 玄学奇喻

a metaphor that points out an unusual parallel between what are usually highly dissimilar elements. 玄学奇喻，指一种悖论性的隐喻，通过喻体和喻指之间的非相似性给读者的心灵带来震撼。

establish an analogy or comparison between two apparently incongruous不协调的 things.

e.g. Time is arrows. similarity—fly fast Flee who sucked the lovers’ blood—the symbol of their love (John Donne)

The use of conceit is especially popular in the 17th century. Esp. the metaphysical poetry

7. Paradox

a statement or situation that appears to be self -contradictory or contradictory to the common sense but is in fact valid or true. 似乎矛盾的论点, 似非而可能是的论点 e.g. More hasty, less speed.

Poets often use paradoxes to express some sophisticated ideas.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter…

Keats “Ode on a Grecian Um”:

Conceit

Means “fanciful idea.” It is in this sense that the word is used in discussion of poems.

A conceit is a metaphor or simile that is made elaborate (far-fetched), often extravagant.

The difference between a conceit and a metaphor or simile is largely of degree. A metaphor or simile appeals mainly to the reader’s five senses and is easier to understand: a conceit appeals mainly to the reader’s intellect and so is difficult to comprehend. A conceit may strike the reader as weird at first glance, but proves appropriate in the end.

The use of conceit is especially popular in the 17th century and the metaphysical poetry is characterized by conceits.

John Donne compares two lovers’ souls to the legs of the compasses.

Flee who sucked the lovers’ blood—the symbol of their love

5. symbol

A symbol is usually a material object used to represent something abstract. The relationship between the symbol and the symbolized is often establishes through convention, resemblance, or association.

The red cross is not only a geometrical figure, but also a symbol of love of mankind and medical care.

The sunrise mot only constitutes an astronomical phenomenon, but also suggests a new beginning.

The dragon—the emperor, the evil

6. Paradox似乎矛盾的论点, 似非而可能是的论点

“Paradox” comes from the Greek word “paradoxos”, meaning “conflicting with expectation.” A paradox may be a statement or situation that appears to be self -contradictory or contradictory to the common sense but is in fact valid or true. The statement “a well-known secret agent” is paradoxical.

Poets often use paradoxes to express some sophisticated ideas. John Keats writes in his “Ode on a Grecian Um”:

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter…

These two lines, by forming a paradox, reveal the human psychology that what one imagines is more desirable than what he has.

8 Onomatopoeia 拟声

Poetry, stemming out of music and natural rhythm, relies on sound effects to a greater extent than do the novel and drama. Onomatopoeia refers to the formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

For example, a donkey “heehaws,” a cat “mews” and bees “buzz.”

Onomatopoeia, as a poetic device, is more than imitating individual sounds. Its idea is to echo the sense. To foreign ears, onomatopoeic devices are difficult to detect and appreciate. The following stanza from D. H. Lawrence’s “Snake” is supposed to suggest the sinuous and slow movement of the reptile through the repeated [s] sound:

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over theedge of the the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness

He sipped with his straight mouth,

Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, silently.

III. lmage 意象（诗歌的灵魂）

Poetry is aimed at conveying and enriching human experience. Experience is formed through sense impressions.

E.g. one’s experience of spring may come from the visual sense, the green grass and trees; and from the auditory sense, the twittering birds and from the olfactory嗅觉 sense, the sweet flowers and fresh air; and from gustatory sense味觉, the delicious fruits and vegetables available in spring. Lastly, his experience of spring may come from his general feeling or response to all the things mentioned above, which is pleasant.

Therefore, the poet’s business is to evoke such impressions in the reader’s mind. His method is usually to describe these things in words, or so speak, to paint word pictures. Such a word picture is an image.

Image is the representation of sense experience through language. 用语言描述感官经验 Obviously, image is the soul of poetry as language is the body of poetry.

千山鸟飞绝,

万径人踪灭。

孤舟蓑笠翁,

独钓寒江雪。

《江雪》柳宗元

One image is frequently the result of the cooperation of the several senses.

6 senses:

the visual sense---sense of sight

auditor sense---sense of sound

gustatory sense味觉—sense of taste

olfactory sense嗅觉---sense of smell

tactile sense 触觉—sense of touch

kinesthetic sense动觉—sense of movement

For example, the image of “fresh air” involves both the olfactory sense (it has a pleasant smell) and the tactile sense (it has a certain degree of coolness, hot

air is seldom described as “fresh”).

IV. Theme

Like any other literary works, a poem centers on a theme or even themes.

{1}death/immortality—Graveyard poets

{2} love

{3} nature [romanticism]…

{4} time

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how to appreciate poetry