英语诗歌入门50首

1、英诗入门首苏煜IntroductionPoetry is a special way of using words in order to create a special effect upon the reader and to light up the world for him. Poetry tells us about the world through our feelings. It sharpens our senses, makes us more keenly and fully aware of life, exercises our imagination and s

2、tores up treasure in our memory. Poetry is perpetually re-creating language. It does this in several ways. It may coin new words: it may help to bring into common use words which, before, had only been used by expertstechnical, scientific words, for instance, it may put common words into new context

3、s, introduce them to other ordinary words they had not met before; it may enrich the value of words by giving them new associations. Poetry, on the other hand, is an art which has to treat words with care, respect and accuracy. Words are the raw material of poetry. The methods that poets use to hamm

4、er and shape words into strong, beautiful patterns are called “poetic technique”. Poetry is always making us aware of links or connections between things, which we had not noticed or had not found interesting before. Poetry is always comparing things: Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art

5、more lovely and more temperate. (Shakespeare) or, My love is like a red, red rose Thats newly sprung in June. (Burns)Comparisons like this, where two things are related by the word “like” or “as”, are called “similes”. Similes can be simple and can be far-fetched. Or they can be subtle and delicate.

6、 They can also be complicated and at first rather difficult to take in. Whether a simile is simple or complex, its main object is to compare two things, to set them side by side in such a way that they light each other up and therefore make us see and understand them more clearly. Another way of doi

7、ng this is metaphor. The word “metaphor” means “transference”. When a seventeenth-century poet Wotton, called the stars “You common people of the skies,” he was transferring the ordinary meaning of “common people” to describe the multitude of the stars. This shows you what a very concentrated thing

8、poetry is: by the use of metaphor, or simile, and by many other devices, it can compress an enormous amount of meaning into a small space. It is a great mistake to think of poetry as something vague and woolly. Poets do sometimes use vague, abstract language; but only in order to make a particular k

9、ind of impression on the reader, or to create in the poem a vague, day-dreaming mood. For the most part, poetry uses language in a vivid, precise, concrete way. To achieve these purposes, poetry makes frequent use of images. Images are word-pictures, painted by the poets imagination in such a way as

10、 to appeal to the readers imagination. Now lets take some lines from a poem called “In Time of Pestilence” by Thomas Nashe. Brightness falls from the air, Queens have died young and fair Dust hath closed Helens eye I am sick, I must die.Each of the first three lines is an image. First is an apparent

11、ly vague one, which gives us the sad feeling we often get from a sunset. The next image is more particular and precise; the poet talks of lovely queens who have died young; the third narrows down the theme still furtherto Helen, Queen of Troy, the most beautiful woman who ever lived; she too is dead

12、. Running through the three images is the emotion which made the poet write the poem: it comes out in the last linehis fear of dying before his time and his sadness that all lovely things have to perish. But images, metaphors and similes are not the only things which may go to make the pattern of a

13、poem. There are meter and rhyme. Although poetry can be made without meter or rhyme, it cannot be made without the inner excitement which so often comes out in the form of metaphor or image. Some of the finest poetry in the world is known by us in the form of prose. Meter divides a line of poetry in

14、to stressed and unstressed syllables; the stresses correspond to the beats in music or the beat of ones feet in dancing. Thus, whether the lines in a poem are all of the same length or of different lengths, they will all come within a metrical framework or pattern. Often you find poems divided up in

15、to stanzasthat is to say, groups of two, three, four, or more lines with space in between them. Each stanza in a poem will generally have the same metrical framework as every other stanza in it, the same number of beats in every corresponding line, and the same pattern of rhymes too. There are many

16、different meters, and variations on meters, which a poet may use. But, whatever meter he is using, the important thing about it is that its stresses create a basic pattern. This pattern is strengthened by the use of rhyme. There are quite a few kinds of rhyme: simple rhymes like “cat” and “mat”; two

17、-syllable ones (they are called “feminine” rhymes), like “leaving” and “grieving”; half-rhymes like “over” and “fever,” or “lightly” and “frightful,” where only half of a two-syllabled word rhymes. Then you can have assonances words that, without actually rhyming, have the same sort of sound “green”

18、 and “grain,” for instance, or “death” and “earth”. In an assonance, it is the consonant-sounds only which are alike; in a rhyme, it is the vowel sounds also. Rhymes generally come at the end of lines. They are put there because it helps to create and make clear the musical pattern of the stanza. Bu

19、t you may get a rhyme in the middle of a line, too. Some poets are extremely skilful in making assonances and other sound-echoes all over a poem. This is often done by the use of alliteration. For example, I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; (Yeats)Those three / l / sounds make a

20、 pleasant, liquid sound: the sound here, in fact, corresponds with the sense. So it does in Dry clashed his armour in the icy caves, (Tennyson)Where the hard “c” of “clashed” and “cave” seems to dry ones mouth up when one speaks the line aloud. Rhyme, assonance, alliteration, the metrical beat they

21、all have one common factor. It is repetition, the repeating of sounds at regular or irregular intervals. Some poems actually repeat whole lines or phrases; when they do this consistently in every stanza, the repetition is called a “refrain”. Repetition, in this sense, has a special pleasure attached

22、 to it the pleasure of recognition. This repeating of sounds, or sometimes of phrases and whole lines, together with the steady beat of meter, is what makes the musical pattern of a poem. The purpose of this rhythmic repetition is both to excite you and to lull you. That may sound contradictory. But

23、 its true. Poetry must put part of you to sleep in order to wake up and excite another part of you. It puts to sleep the part of you that reasons and argues; it awakens the part that remembers, feels and imagines. For both the putting-to-sleep and the waking-up process, rhythmic repetition of sound

24、is a powerful instrument. All study of poetry starts with reading. Poetry should be read aloud. When you study a poem for the first time, you should read or listen to it, in part or whole depending on its length, four or five times. If a poem is introduced in class, it should be read once or twice e

25、ither by the teacher or a student, and then everyone, including the teacher, should read it through two or three times to themselves. If you are studying at home, you can, of course, read or listen to it aloud any number of times. The rule is: the more the better. But what is it that you are reading

26、? The simple but important answer is words. A poem is made of words, and whatever is said in a poem is said in words. The words are organized in lines and stanzas. Any poem can be said to be: “these particular words organized in these particular lines.” It is these words, and the way they are organi

27、zed, that you must attend to as you read. You should attend to them individually and as a whole group. You must try to see what they are saying and also be aware of the very way in which the words combine to say it. You should attend to the ideas, pictures and emotions and rhymes. The aim of reading

28、 should always be to come to grip with the poem in the fullest possible way. Thinking and writing about a poem emerges from reading. It is reading that alerts you to the poems ideas, its interesting words, its rhythms and shape and its human importance. When you are reading a poem, you should be awa

29、re of what is going on. The words are saying somethingbe aware of what it is, and how they are saying it. The words are in linesbe aware of them. The words may be rhythmic, there may be rhymes, and there will certainly be soundsbe aware of them. The individual stanzas and the poem as a whole have sh

30、apesbe aware of them. You will also be aware of something elseyour reaction to the poem. You should notice how you are reacting to the poem. You can ask yourself: how am I reacting? What do I feel as I read these words? What thoughts and feelings do these words stir up in me? Am I enjoying this poem

31、, and if so what kind of pleasure is it giving me? Am I being led to see things in newer or deeper way by this poem? It is not necessary that you understand every line or even every stanza , though it is worthwhile seeing if you can tease out the more difficult parts. If the poem is narrative, you s

32、hould be satisfied that you understand the main events. If the poem is a meditation or reflection upon life, you should make sure that you have a general idea about what is being said. If the poem is an argument about something, you should ensure that you can follow its main stages. What you should

33、aim for is a state in which you could give a general summary of what the poem is about and be able to show the stages through which it goes. Once you have an idea of what the poem is about, you can question the words and your reaction to them. Therefore, if you notice something when you are reading

34、a poem, you should try to frame it in the form of a question. This is not always easy, so you should practice putting your reactions in the question form. For instance, if you notice a particular word you can ask: what was it interesting about that word? Or, if you particularly enjoy a line, you can

35、 ask: what was it about that line that I particularly enjoyed? If you find that difficult, there are two questions that can always be put: what do I feel about this poem? What is it about the poem that makes me feel this? You should remember that both these questions, and any others that you may ask

36、, are, in one way or another, about the words of the poem. It is helpful to realize where questions come from. Most come from three statespuzzlement, interest, and pleasure. Puzzlement arises when you say: “how strange!” or “thats odd!” If you put your puzzlement in the form of questions, you can as

37、k: Why does the poet say that? Why is that word used? Why does the poet move from that subject to this? Why write in this way about that subject? Interest arises in a number of ways. You might say: “Thats intriguing” or “how interesting”. There are a number of questions that can be framed out of exp

38、ressions of interest. You can ask: am I interested because it reflects the way I feel? Am I interested because Ive dimly felt like that but could never quite find the words? Am I interested because of the unusual way the poet thinks? Interest lies in the contrast, and the way in which it is differen

39、t from what you might have expected. Pleasure occurs when you say: “how beautiful” or “How wonderful for someone to say that!” When you frame such reactions as questions, you can ask: what is it about these words that I find beautiful? Is it their ease and naturalness? Is it that they are exciting a

40、nd dramatic? Is it that the idea is very cleverly put? The reactions of puzzlement, interest and pleasure have all been given in words. More thought now needs to be given to the words in which these reactions have been expressed. As you think about your puzzlement, interest and pleasure, you will se

41、e that you need to write about how the words have stirred these reactions in you. You might want to write about how the words create meanings, about how they form lines, rhythms and stanzas, and about how they rhyme and make patterns of sounds. Tone is a technical word standing for the poise, mood,

42、voice, manner, attitude and outlook of a poet. The tone of a poem may be cold, cynical, bitter, troubled, uncertain, eager, bragging, gleeful, resigned or protesting. There are, of course, many others. Tone is the most general of all the technical words because it can be applied to many aspects of p

43、oetry. For instance, you can ask about the tone of a simile, the tone of a particular rhythm, and the tone of a whole poem. That last point is very importantvirtually every poem has a tone. The tone might be difficult to characterize, or you may be uncertain as to whether a poem is serious or amusin

44、g, but if it is a poem it almost certainly must take up an attitude or outlook, or have a mood, voice or manner. Therefore, it is wise to discuss tone before all the other terms. Because every poem has a tone, you must think about it at some point when you study a poem. You can do this as soon as yo

45、u are fairly clear what the poem is about. Sometimes, you will feel you want to, because what has most interested you is the tone. On other occasions, other aspects of a poem will immediately puzzle, interest or give you pleasure, so you will want to think about them first. You must not ignore tone,

46、 so it is wise to ask, at some time during your study of a poem. How far have we got with our idea of a general approach to a poem? Before you start detailed study of a poem, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what the poem is about. Once you have got that idea, you can then proceed with

47、questioning yourself about what puzzles and interests that give you pleasure. Whatever you say about these things, you must, at some point, think about the tone of the poem, and expect to find the words enacting their meanings.AnonymousWestern Wind1Western wind, when will thou2 blow,The small rain d

48、own can rain?3Christ, if my love were in my armsAnd I in my bed again!4 Notes:1. Western wind: Western wind in England is equal to the east or spring wind in the east countries.2. wilt thou: will you3. The small rain :（So that）the small rain can fall down?4. “If-clause” here expresses a wish of the

49、speaker, that is, “I wish that my love were in my arms, and that I were in my bed again!Sir Patrick Spens1The king sits in Dumferling toune2, Drinking the blude-reid3 wine:“O whar4 will I get guid sailor, To sail this schip5 of mine?”Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the kings richt kne6:“Sir Pat

50、rick Spens is the best sailor, That sails upon the se7.”The king has written a braid letter8, And signed it wi his hand;And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens, Was walking on the sand.The first line that Sir Patrick red, A Loud lauch9 lauched he:The next line that Sir Patrick red, The teir10 blinded his e

51、e11.“O wha12 is this has don13 this deid14, This ill deid don to me;To send me out this time o the yeir15, To sail upon the se?”“Mak haste, mak haste, my mirry men all16, Our guid schip sails the morne17.”“O say na sae18, my master deir19, For I feir a deadlie storme.”“Late, late yestreen20 I saw th

52、e new mooneWi the auld moone in hir arme21; And I feir22, I feir, my deir master, That we will cum to harme23.”O our Scots nobles wer richt laith24 To weet25 their cork-keild shone26;Bot lang owre a the play wer playd,27 Their hats they swam aboone28.O lang29, lang, may their ladies sit Wi their fan

53、s into their hand,Or eir30 they se Sir Patrick Spens Cum31 Sailing to the land.O lang, lang, may the ladies stand, Wi their gold kems32 in their hair,Waiting for their ain33 deir lords, For theyll se thame na mair.34Haf owre35, haf owre to Aberdour, Its fiftie fadom deip36,And thair37 lies guid Sir

54、Patrick Spens, Wi the Scots lords at his feit38.Notes: Ballad is a poem of verse to be sung or recited and characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form. Though the ballad is a form still much written , the so-called popular ballad in most literatures b

55、elongs to the early periods before written literature was highly developed. Traditional or “popular” ballads still appear, however, in isolated sections and among illiterate and semiliterate peoples. Very often the old ballads, however, were not the work of one poet alone. Later poets or even ordina

56、ry members of the audience listening to a ballad, would add a stanza here, a few lines there. And pretty often, in their excitement, they exaggerated the deeds of the hero in whose honour the poem was composed. Thus there grew up round these heroes a mass of legend. The early story-poems were, you m

57、ight say, fiction founded on fact; but the core of them was that kind of hero-worship which you yourselves feel for men and women whose great deeds or fine qualities stir your imagination.Certain common characteristics of the early ballads should be noted: the supernatural and superstitious are like

58、ly to play an important part in events, physical courage and love are frequent themes, the incidents are usually such as happen to common people (as opposed to the nobility) and often have to do with domestic episodes (local history), slight attention is paid to characterization or description, tran

59、sitions are abrupt, action is largely developed through dialogue, tragic situations are presented with the utmost simplicity, incremental repetition is common, a single episode of a highly dramatic nature is presented, and often the ballad is brought to a close with some sort of summary stanza. The

60、traditional ballad stanza is a quatrain which rhymes abcb.1. Sir Patrick Spens: It is a folk ballad composed probably about the 15th century. The ballad was not written down until the latter half of the 18th century. There are several versions of this ballad, this one is the shortest and usually con