Appreciation of English Poetry What is poetry? Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic choices so as to evole an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme, but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an ancient form that has gone through numerous and drastic reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an authentic and individual mode of expression makes it nearly impossible to define.诗以高度凝结的语言表达着人们的喜怒哀乐，用其特有的节奏与方式影响着人们的精神世界。诗讲究联想，运用象征、比喻、拟人等各种修辞手法，形成了独特的语言艺术。英诗浩如烟海， 篇幅长短不一。 以下四个方面的内容：诗的格律、 诗的押韵、 诗的体式、诗的评判，可以有助于更好地了解欣赏英诗。一、诗的格律(Meter/Measure)一首诗（a poem）往往包含有若干诗节（stanza/strophe），每节又分为若干诗行（line/verse），每个诗行由若干音步（foot）组成，音步则是由一定数目的重音节（stressed syllable）和非重读音节（unstressed syllable）按照一定的规则排列而成的。音步的排列方式则构成英语的格律。依照每一音步中重读音节（扬）和非重读音节（抑）的排列方式，可以把音步分成不同种类，即格律。 格律是是每个音步轻重音节排列的格式，也是朗读时轻重音的依据。而音步是由重读音节和非重读音节构成的诗的分析单位。重读音节为扬（重），非重读音节为抑（轻） ，音步之间可用“／”隔开。以下是四种常见格式：1．抑扬格 （轻重格） Iambus; the Iambic Foot ：是最常见的一种格式，每个音步由一个非重读音节加一个重读音节构成。As fair / art thou / my bon/nie lass, So deep / in luve / am I : And I / will luve / thee still,/ my dear, Till a / the seas / gang dry: 上例中为四音步与三音步交叉。又如：She walks/ in beau/ty, like/ the night Of cloud /less climes /and star/ry skies; And all / that ’ s best /of dark /and bright Meet in/ her as/pect and/ her eyes. 再如：The trum/pet of /a pro/phecy! /O wind, If win/ter ...
