诗歌的主要类别和语言特点.doc

The Elements of Poetry
诗歌基础知识
Part Ⅰ Prosody 格律学/诗学
Prosody is the study of sound and rhythm in poetry.
A. metre（格律）: In listening to the human voice we can always hear that some words and syllables are stressed and that others unstressed. When the tress recurs at quite regular intervals — that is, when the rhythm has a pattern — the result is meter.
Metre is measured in feet （韵节/音步）
* A foot is a basic unit of rhythm into which a line of poetry is divided.
B. Some basic metrical feet 基本格式
*1. iambic foot —（） 抑扬格
2. trochaic ︱tr∂u´keiik︱~ — 扬抑格
3. Spondaic ︱spon´deiik︱foot — — 扬扬格
4. Pyrrhic [´pirik]~ 抑抑格
5.Anapaestic ~ 抑抑扬格
6.Dactylic ︱dk´tilik︱ ~ 扬抑抑格
C. Line length in English poetry:
One foot monometer
Two feet diameter
Three feet trimeter
Four feet tetrameter
Five feet pentameter
Six feet hexameter
Seven feet Heptameter
Eight feet Octameter
* The most common line length in English Poetry is pentameter.
D. Stanza： a division of a poem into units of the same number of lines, the same meter, and the same rhyme scheme.
quatrain(abab), couplet(a stanza of two lines), octave(a stanza of eight lines), tercet(a stanza of three lines)
two-line ~ three-line ~ four-line ~ …
E. Rhyme (end-rhyme, 韵脚/尾韵)
The repetition of the similar sound at the ends of the lines.
1. feminine rhyme（阴韵）: Lines that rhyme by using unstressed final syllables.
2. muscular rhyme（阳韵）：Lines that rhyme by using stressed.
F. Rhyme Scheme: the pattern of rhymes.
G. Caesura — any significant pause within a line.
H. Scansion（格律分析）：（scan V.）
The systematic analysis of patterns of stresses, syllable by syllable, sound unit by sound unit.
Division into feet is sometimes arbitrary and the distinction between stressed and unstressed is not a very precise one, for many degrees of stress are possible.
Part ⅡVerse Forms
诗歌的韵式
A group of lines forming a division in a poem is called a stanza. Traditional stanzas are linked by a common rhyme scheme— the pattern of rhyme words.
A. Ballad stanza 民谣体
B. blank verse 无韵体
C. Elegiac stanza 挽歌体
D. Heroic couplet 英雄双行体
E. Sonnet 十四行诗
1. Italian sonnet/ Petrarchan sonnet 意大利十四行诗
metrical feet and Line length: iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme: a b b a , a b b a, c d e c d e
a b b a , a b b a, c d e e d c
a b b a , a b b a, c d cd c d
2. English sonnet / Shakespearean sonnet ( three quatrains ＋ couplet)
metrical feet and line length: iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg
3. Spenserian sonnet: 斯宾塞十四行诗
abab bcbc cdcd ee ( three quatrains ＋ couplet)
F. Ottawa Rime A form of eightht- line stanza.
The rhyme scheme is ababab cc
G. Spenserian Stanza.
A nine – line stanza with the rhyme scheme: ababbcbcc.( iambic pentameter )
The first eight lines are written in iambic pentameter ＋ is called an alexandrine. Followed by an iambic line of six feet.
H. Terza Rima (iambic pentameter)
An Italian verse form consisting of a series of three – line stanzas in which the middle line of each stanza rhymes with the first and third lines of the following stanza as follows: aba b cb cdc, etc
Terza rima is employed in Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind.
I. Free verse 自由诗
* No regular meter or rhymes
* Indefinite number of lines
* use of repetitive patterns – of words, phrases, structures as Whitman
Often does.
J. blank verse
Part Ⅲ Poetic Genres and Kinds
诗歌种类
There has never been a very precise agreement as to how the classification should be done. Different poems are said to belong to different groups, class. field according to subject matter, level of language, mode of presentation , shape of plot , prose or verse form , etc .
Genre here is to indicate the traditional classroom distinction between fiction, poetry, and drama in which poetry is considered as a genre of literary works.
A. classification in terms of organization 按组织方式分类
A made is employed to indicate basic literary patterns of organizing experience. 组织经历和体验方式
1. Narrative mode tells a story and organizes experience along a time continuum.
2. Dramatic mode presents a change and organizes experience emotionally according to the rise and fall of someone’s fortunes.
3. Lyric mode reflects upon an experience or an idea and organizes experience irrespective of time and space.
B. Classification in terms of dominant emotion
One may also think of modes in terms of the dominant emotion they arouse in their presentations of experience.
1. Tragedy or the tragic mode describes one’s downfall and a stately language is often used.
2. Comedy or the comic mode describes one’s triumph and more common language is used.
3. Romance or the romantic mode describes the ideal, often in terms of nostalgia or fantasy or longing.
4. Satire or the satiric mode attacks the way things are and use, distributes the blame.
C. Major kinds
Poetry as a genre may be subdivided into kinds (or types, or subgenre). Even if one does not believe in kinds as absolutes, knowing the characteristics of major kinds can be useful to readers in letting them know what to expect of a poem. Over years there has been general agreement about some of these kinds and their characteristics:
A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.
1.Epic / Heroic poetry 史诗/ 英雄史诗
——highest is a hierarchy of kinds.
It describes the great deeds of mighty heroes or heroines and uses elevated language and a grand, high style.
E.g. Milton’s Paradise Lost
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
Dante’s Divine Comedy
Anglo-Saxon Beowulf
2. Pastoral Poetry 田园诗/牧歌
It describes the simple life of country folk, usu. shepherds who live a timeless, painless life in a world that is full of beauty, music, and love, and that remains forever green.
—— Also called Eclogue, bucolic or idyll.
3. Elegy 挽歌
Since the Renaissance the term indicated a formal lament for the death of a particular person.
4. Mock poem 讽刺诗
Poems of any kind in order to attack sth / a specific vice
5. Lyrics 抒情诗
Short poems in which a speaker expresses intense personal emotion rather than telling a story.
Blake’s The lamb and The Tiger
6. Ballads 民谣
Narrative poems which originally were meant to be sung, created by folk, passing from person to person orally.
7. A hymn/Psalm 赞美诗
A song of praise, usu. in praise of God
8. Epigram/Epitaph 诗体警句/诗体铭义
Epigram –very short witty verse
Epitaph –any poem carved in stone, building, grave, etc.
9. Shaped verse(concretes)形状诗/拟形诗
The verse resembles a particular object.
A bottle for instance.
10. Ode 颂歌
A complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject.
Odes are often written for a special occasion, to a person or a season or to commemorate an event. The famous odes are Shelley’s’ Ode to the West Wind and John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian urn.

Part Ⅳ Poetic Diction + Poetic License
诗歌的语言和语法持点
Poetry as a literary genre is definitely different from fiction and drama though they are closely related to one another. Even an untrained reader could easily find that dissimilarity. The differences lie in many ways—forms, rhythm, rhyme language and license, etc.
Now, knowing some poetic diction and license is quite helpful for beginners to understand poems.
A. Use of archaic or less common words
①Nouns
Swine—pig; spouse—wife
Steed—horse; main—sea
②Verbs
Quit—leave; quoth—said
wrought—worked; fare—walk;
art—Are; wert—were;
wilt—Will; shalt—shall
Use of the second person singular;
Do-dost; did—didst
Can—canst
The third person singular:
V—th maketh doth
B. Omission—most functional words could be omitted
1. Relative pronouns 关系代词
e.g.
Tis distance (that) leads enchantment to the view. （景色远望增光彩）
2. Articles 冠词
e.g.
The brink of (the) haunted stream 魔鬼（鬼魂）出没的河边。
3. There is / are 引导词
e.g.
There’s many a wind and way
And (there’s) never a may but may. 千姿百态风和路，却无五月春常驻。
4. be
e.g.
Mean though I am, ( I am, ) not wholly so. 我虽卑而非全然。
5. prepositions 介词
e.g.
He mourned ( for ) no recreant friend 他不哀悼正义之友。
6. Conjunctions 连词
e.g.
He knew himself (how) to sing. 他自己晓得怎样歌唱。
7. Auxiliary verbs 助动词
e.g.
Tell me not in mournful numbers. ( don’t tell me… )
勿以怨声对我说。
C. Poetic License 诗歌的特许语言
1. Adj. = adv.
e.g.
They fall successive, and successive rise. 他们屡仆屡起。
The green trees whispered low and mild 绿树温言又低语。
2. N + Personal Pronoun as the subject
e.g.
Robin he turns him round about. 罗宾转过身去。
The King he laughed 国王他哈哈大笑。
3. iv + pronoun
e.g.
He twisted him to and fro 他来回扭动着身体。
4. adj-est = adj
e.g.
The stoutest hearts of Spain. (stoutest = stout ) 西班牙勇士。
5. him = himself ; her = herself; you = yourself …
e.g.
I thought me (myself) richer than the Persian king.
人言波斯五家有，我觉比他胜一筹。
6. nor…nor… = neither … nor …
or … or = either … or …
D. Inversion 语序例置
1. N + attribute = attri + N
e.g.
And there I shut her wild eyes with kisses four.
2．Predicate + Subject = subj + Predi
e.g.
Roar the mountains thunders all the ground 大地滚雷，山川怒吼。
3. Object + Predicate = Pred: + Obj.
e.g.
Four nobles a week then I’ll give to thee. 每周派遣四个贵族。
4. of + N2 + N1 = N1+ of + N2
e.g.
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul
太阳啊，你是这个伟大世界的眼睛和灵魂。
5. N + prep =prep + N
e.g.
Echo walks steep hills among 回声在峻间荡漾。
E. Use of imagery and rhetorical devices imagery is frequently employed in poetry, which means three related but distinct things:
(1) The mental pictures suggested by the verbal descriptions in a poem.
(2) The visual descriptions in the poem itself.
(3) The figurative language in the poem.
Most notional words not only denote a thing or action, but also connote feelings and associations suggested by them.
word
denotation
Connotation

4-legged
Strength
Horse
Ride able
Vitality

Workable…
Vigor…
Brief introduction of Rhetorical Devices
Ⅰ. Lexical Stylistic Devices 词义上的修辞格
1．Simile 明喻
A direct comparison between two or more unlike things; normally introduced by “like” or “as”.
e.g. I wandered lonely as cloud. 我象一朵浮云独自漫游。
2. Metaphor 隐喻，暗喻
An implied comparison between two or more unlike things.
e.g.
By the hour the volcanic fires of his nature had burnt down.
到这时候他本性中那种暴烈的火焰，已经燃烧殆尽。
Military glory is a bubble blown from blood. 军事上的荣耀是用鲜血吹成的气泡。
3. Metonymy 借代，转喻, 借喻.
The substitution of the name of one thing for that of another.
e.g.
①. in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread — Bible 为了谋生，你将终生辛苦。
（ sweat — hard work; eat bread — live ）
Meaning: You shall have to work hard in order to live.
A. A concrete image for an abstract concept.
②. The hall applauded.
（The hall — the people in the hall ）整个大厅掌声雷动。
B. The container for the thing(s) contained.
③. Grey hair should be respected ( Grey hair — old age — old people) 老年人应该受到大家的尊重。
C. Features of a thing for the thing itself.
④. crown — king / hardhat — construction worker.
4. Allusion, A reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects the reader to recognize and respond to.
An allusion may be drawn from history geography, literature, or religion.
In Act One of Macbeth, Ross praises Macbeth’s valor and skill in the batte by referring to him as “Bellona bridegroom”. In Roman mythology Bellona was the Goddess of war.
5. Analogy A comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them.
e.g.
As among the words of nature no man can properly call a river deep or a mountain high, without the knowledge of many mountains and many rivers; so in the production of genius, nothing can be styled excellent till it has been compared with other works of the same kind.
⑤The pen is mightier than the sword. 笔杆子比刀剑更有力。
（pen—articles, sword—war, arms）
D. One concrete for another concrete
6. Personification
Representing sth. without life / abstract as a human being or as having human qualities.
e.g.
In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.
十一月间，一个冷冰冰的，未被人注意的陌生人偷偷地在这个艺术家聚居区徘徊，这个人被医生称做肺炎，他在各处用冰冷的手指摸摸这个，摸摸那个。
Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind, Thy tooth is no so keen, Because thou are not seen, Although thy breath be rude.
7.Irony 反语
The use of the words in which the contrary is to be understood.
e.g.
It world be a fine thing indeed not knowing what time it was in the morning. 要是早晨不知道到了什么时间那才好了。
8. Hyperbole 夸张/夸大
Exaggeration, overstatement
e.g.
He ran down the avenue, making a noise like ten horses at a gallot.
他飞快地沿着大道跑去，发出的声音像十几匹马在狂奔。
9. Litotes 含蓄渲染
Understatement by use of negatives.
e.g.
①And he was not right fat, （He was right lean）
② I’ve studied human nature, and I know a thing or two;
③ There was a slight disturbance in the city yesterday.
昨天城里出了一点小乱子。
10. Euphemism 委婉语
The conveying of a harsh or an unpleasant truth gently.
e.g. Passed away — die
Be no more
Be gone （Titanic）
Depart
11. Contrast 对照
The presentation of two opposite things in the statement(s).
e.g.
Well, California’s a big state.
There aren’t room enough for you and me …
12. Oxymoron 矛盾修饰 / 反映
The union of contradictory terms.
e.g.
①Beautiful tyrant, friend angelical,
Dove feather’s raven, wolfish-ravening lamb,
……
A damned saint, an honourable villain
—— William Shakepeare: Romeo and Juliet
美丽的暴君，天使般的恶魔！
长着鸽子羽毛的渡鸭，嗜杀成性的羔羊！
……
该造诅咒的圣法，体面的恶棍。
②proud humility 骄傲的谦虚
③living death 活着的死亡
④dear enemy
⑤wise fool
⑥sweet sorrow
*13 Transferred Epithet 移就/转移修饰语（描述词）
An adjective or short descriptive phrase which should modify word A is used to modify word B.
e.g.
①Darrow had whispered throwing a reassuring arm round my shoulder as we were waiting for the court to open.
我们等着开庭，这时达若一面低声说话，一面伸过安慰的胳膊放在我肩上。
②Gray peace pervaded the wilderness ninged Argentia Bay in Newfoundland.
灰色的宁静笼罩着四周一片荒凉的纽芬兰阿根夏湾。
(Gray peace — peaceful grey water, gray shy, gray air + grey hills)
③I enjoy … the cool support of the water.
我享受着池水的凉爽漂浮（我漂浮在水里，享受着池水的清凉。）
14. Apostrophe a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or sth nonhuman is addressed directly.
e.g.
“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean — roll”
—— Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage by Byron
15. Paradox, A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self – contradictory and untrue.
c.f. Oxymoron
e.g.
I believe, though, that praise should be measured. If there must be any, it should be negative to be constructive.
不过，我认为，表扬必须有分