How to appreciate English poetry

Appreciation of English Poetry: Metre, Rhythm, Style and Evaluation of Poetry. Poetry expresses people's joys and sorrows in highly concise language and influences people's spiritual world in a unique rhythm and way. Poetry pays attention to association and uses various rhetorical devices such as symbol, metaphor and personification to form a unique language art.

First, the meter of poetry "meter refers to the rhythm that you can beat with your feet", which is the format of the arrangement of light and heavy syllables in each step and the basis of light and heavy sounds when reading aloud. The foot is the analytical unit of a poem, which consists of stressed syllables and unstressed syllables. The stressed syllable is Yang (heavy). Use "-"or "?" On the syllable. Standard, unstressed syllables are suppressed (light), use "?" On the syllable. Mark, steps can be separated by "/". Here are five common formats:

1.Iambus: It is the most common format, and each step consists of an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable.

You/my love/my love are as beautiful,

I love so much:

Dear, I will love you forever until the seas run dry.

Robert burns: My lover is like a red rose.

Attention; art = love = love Bonnie = beautiful a `= all gang = go

The intersection of four steps and three steps in the above example can be marked as:? -/? -/? -/(? -)

2. Each step consists of a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable.

In the following example, it is a four-step (one light syllable is missing) and can be marked as:-? /-? /-? /-

Tiger! /Tiger! /burning/bright

In the forest at night

William blake: Tiger.

3. iambic foot: each step includes two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable. Such as: three-step iambic? -/? -/? -

Like a child/from the womb,

Like a ghost/from the grave,

I stood up/took it apart again.

4. Dactylic foot: Each step consists of one stressed syllable and two unstressed syllables. Such as: double-step up and down-? /-?

Do you touch her/? Disdainfully,

Think of her/? Sadly.

Thomas Hood

5.Amphibrach: Each step consists of an unstressed syllable, a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable. Such as: three-step cadence? -? /? -? /? -? The last step in the following example is iambic.

o？ Shh. Yours/mine? Baby/how are you? Your majesty is a knight.

Different metrical patterns often appear in the same poem, and metrical analysis has certain reference value for reading poetry. Modern poetry often doesn't follow the rules.

Second, the rhyme of this poem.

Rhyme refers to the poetic writing technique of repeating vowels or consonants to achieve a certain rhyming effect.

1. Final rhyme: the most common and important rhyme method.

1) rhyme: aabb type.

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to the ground, I don't know where it is;

Because it flies so fast.

Unable to follow its flight.

Henry wadsworth longfellow: Arrow and Song.

2) Rhyme: abab type.

Sunsets and evening stars,

Give me a clear call!

I hope there are no complaints in the bar,

When I went out to sea,

Alfred Tennyson (1809- 1892): Go through it.

3) Homology: Some poems rhyme until the end, and most of them use a rhyme in the same poem.

Use /I:p/ as the rhyme of * *.

The forest is lovely, dark and deep.

But I have to keep my promise,

I still have a long way to go before I fall asleep,

I still have a long way to go before I fall asleep.

Robert Frost (1874- 1963): On a snowy night, I stopped at the edge of a forest.

2. alliteration: refers to the same consonant at the beginning of several words in a line (verse), forming a rhyme. In the following examples, the alliteration /f/, /b/ and /s/ are used to vividly describe the sight of a ship sailing at sea.

The breeze blows, white foam flies,

Plough follows freedom,

We were the first to explode.

Sink into the silent sea.

Coleridge: the song of the ancient sailor

3. Internal rhyme (homophonic): refers to the internal rhyme formed by the repetition of reasons between words.

/I/ and /Iη/ appear repeatedly in the following poem, showing a happy and peaceful atmosphere.

Spring, sweet spring, is a pleasant king in a year;

Then everything blooms, and then the girls dance in a circle.

Cold doesn't sting, beautiful birds sing:

Cuckoo, puff, puff, puff!

Thomas nashe (1567- 160 1): Spring, sweet spring.

Third, the poetic style.

Some poems are divided into stanzas, and each stanza consists of several lines (each line begins with a capital letter); Some poems have no paragraphs. At present, our common poetic styles are:

Sonnet (1. Sonnet), a short lyric poem originated in the Middle Ages, was popular in Italy in the 13 and 14 centuries, with Petrarch of Italy as the representative figure. Each line has eleven syllables, one section has eight lines, and the other section has six lines, with abba, abba and cdcdcd (cdecde) as the rhyme. The first eight lines ask questions and the last six lines answer them.

Later, Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) introduced the sonnet into England, with iambic pentameter, three lines and one line, the first three sections asking questions and the last two sentences ending. EdmundSpenser (1552- 1599) uses the rhymes abab, bcbc, cdcd and ee. WilliamShakespeare (1564- 16 16) used the rhyme abab, cdcd. See, for example, the fourth part of this article.

2. limerick: usually a small joke, or even a story. Generally, there is no title or author's name. It contains humor and satire, and often uses puns, internal rhymes and other techniques. Each poem has five lines, and the rhyme is aabba, and the meter is mainly iambic and iambic.

There was a young black lady.

She smiled while riding a tiger;

They rode back.

The lady is inside,

And the smile on the tiger's face.

2) tutor who teaches flute.

Trying to teach two pipers to play the flute,

"Is it difficult to play the flute, or

Two men said to the tutor,

Teach two pipers to play the flute? "

3. blank verse: iambic pentameter verse without rhyme.

Through the watery bales, and shout:

Answering his call, trembling bells,

Long cheers, screams, loud echoes.

Double and double: crazy convergence

The noise of joy! …

William wordsworth: There is a boy.

4. Free verse: a common style in modern poetry. Poems of different lengths exist in the same poem, and they don't pay attention to rhyme and meter, but only pay attention to the images and emotions expressed in the poem. The American poet walt whitman's >: (Leaves of Grass) adopts this format. See the fourth part for examples.

Fourth, the evaluation of poetry.

For a poem, personal feelings will be different. A poem with smooth rhythm, refined language and novel association is a good poem. A poem that piles up words and expresses feelings blindly without actual content can only be a poem of taking a ride.

In the 20th century, British and American poetry used a lot of free verse, which was close to spoken English. This is a bold innovation, which may be the general trend of poetry development. We look at the judgment of poetry through the analysis of three poems.

1. That time of year

At that time of year, you may see it in me.

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, hang.

On those branches trembling with cold,

Bare and destroyed choir, where sweet birds sing,

In me, you see the dawn of this day.

Just like the sunset,

As the night fades away,

The second self of death closes everything in rest.

In me, you see the brilliance of this flame,

Lying on the ashes of his youth.

As a deathbed, it must expire,

Swallowed by what nourishes it.

You are aware of this, which makes your love stronger.

Love the well that you will leave soon.

Note: Maybe: Maybe: Late: Not long ago, you: Look: Look.

Fadeth: fadesdoth: Are the seals still? They are completely buried.

Yours: your perception. Perception is not long. soon

This poem is a sonnet by william shakespeare (1564- 16 16). As a master of English literature, he stands tall in the world literary world with 37 plays and 154 sonnets.

This poem is iambic pentameter, and the beat of each line is:? -/? -/? -/? -/? -/。

The whole poem deals with aging, death and love. The first twelve lines: by describing the dead branches and yellow leaves in late autumn, it was once a musical scene in which a hundred birds contended, and I thought that my youth would disappear in the distance like the sunset and be swallowed up by the night; Your own youth will be like dying firewood, burned by the flame that once nourished it. Among them, choir and dying use metaphors, and at the same time, sunset and firewood symbolize human aging and death. The last two lines: get to the point, and people will cherish what they are about to say goodbye to. The verb changes in this paper have obvious Elizabethan characteristics.

2.daffodils

I wander alone, like a cloud.

Floating on high valleys and hills,

Suddenly, I saw a group of people,

Many golden daffodils;

By the lake, under the tree,

Dance in the breeze.

Continuous as a shining star

Shining in the milky way,

They stretch on and on.

Along the edge of the bay:

I saw 10 thousand at a glance,

Shake their heads in a cheerful dance.

The waves beside them danced; But they

Cheerfully better than sparkling waves:

Poets can't help being happy,

In such a happy company:

I stared-stared-but seldom thought of it.

How much wealth has this program brought me:

Often, when I lie on the sofa.

In a daze or brooding mood,

They flash in the inner eyes.

This is lonely happiness;

Then my heart was filled with happiness,

Dancing with daffodils.

Note: a group of people, a group of people: many cheerful: happy and joyful.

Happy: blissful bliss: completely happy and thoughtful: sad and thoughtful.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the three great poets of 19 century. This poem depicts a beautiful natural scenery to us and expresses the author's love for natural beauty. Narcissus is said to be the national flower of Wales (1282, Wales surrendered to England and became a principality). Widely cultivated in Britain, it blooms in spring, but the flowering period is not long. There are many poems about daffodils, and this poem is undoubtedly outstanding.

The language of the whole poem is concise, easy to understand, four-step iambic, divided into four sections, each with six lines, and each section rhymes with ababcc. The second section writes that daffodils compete to open in various ways; In the third quarter, the poet was overjoyed to see this scene; In the fourth quarter, when the poet is depressed in the future, he recalls the scene at that time, and his heart is full of joy and dances with daffodils.

3. My own songs

I praise myself and sing about myself,

I assume that you should also assume that,

Because every atom that belongs to me belongs to you.

I wander and invite my soul,

I learned to watch a piece of summer grass leisurely.

My tongue, every atom in my blood, comes from this land, this air,

The parents born here are the same as the parents born here, and their parents are the same.

I am 37 years old and in good health.

I hope it will not stop until I die.

Credo and school were shelved,

It is enough to retire for a while, but you will never forget it.

I have good intentions or bad intentions, and I am allowed to speak at any risk.

Nature is endless and primitive energy.

Note: spear: a school: theory, genre risk: opportunity

Shelf: the state of not being used for a period of time

Walt whitman is an American poet. This poem is selected from his masterpiece. This article is the first part of Song of Me, which adopts the style of free verse, and the language is close to the American spoken language at that time.

In this paper, I mean the author, and you mean the reader, so that the reader can be immersed in the world described by the author. In the article, the author shows that people's value is equal, and at the same time, he integrates himself into the enlightening thinking brought by nature.

Therefore, the appreciation and evaluation of poetry is beyond our power. The key is to grasp the image in the poem and understand its semantics, so as to grasp the main idea of the poem. Even though everyone will feel different after reading, everyone will feel the beauty and spiritual voice brought by poetry in the process of reading.