How to read English poetry

The language of poetry is vivid and musical, that is to say, it has a distinct sense of rhythm like music, which is one of the important signs that distinguishes it from other literary genres. Another characteristic of the musicality of poetry language is its beautiful and melodious rhythm.

Now, I want to introduce the characteristics and reading methods of English poetry in detail:

English itself is a language with a strong sense of rhythm, which is reflected by the frequency of stress.

English poetry includes metrical poems, blank poems and free poems.

In English metrical poems, light tone and stress appear according to certain rules. There are seven common types: one light and one heavy is called iambic; One heavy and one light is called Yang Yige; Emphasis on two light, known as yang suppression, suppression; Two lightness and one weight are called iambic; One syllable and two syllables are called Yangyang songs; One light syllable and two syllables are called suppression lattice; Three syllables, one light, one heavy and one light, are called iambic. We can judge the rhythm of a poem according to the stress law and the number of steps, which is called metrical analysis or step division.

Rhythm—

Poetry does not have to rhyme, but it must have rhythm. Rhythm is called rhythm in English, which comes from Greece and means flowing, that is, moving from one point to another. How can we analyze the rhythm of English poetry with phonological footwork? Take metrical poems as an example. Firstly, divide each line into several syllables, distinguish which syllables are stressed and which syllables are not stressed, and find out their arrangement form and the number of times this arrangement appears in a line, that is, the number of steps contained in the line.

Rhyme—

The so-called rhyme means that the same or similar stressed syllables appear in two or more corresponding positions. The rhyme of English poetry can be divided into complete rhyme and approximate rhyme (also called residual rhyme). Whole rhyme means that when rhyming, it must be placed on stressed syllables starting with different consonants, in which the vowel is the same, and the consonants or other unstressed syllables after this vowel must also be the same; There are three kinds of approximate rhymes, that is, the last consonant is the same and the vowels in front are similar but different; The consonants after the same vowel are different, indicating homophonic; Stress vowels are different, and all consonants are the same, which is called homophonic consonants.

Another poetic method related to rhyme is alliteration, that is, the same phoneme (mainly consonant) appears repeatedly at the beginning of some related words.

The rhythm of English poetry is very complicated. According to the position of rhyming sound in a line, it can be divided into ending rhyme and line rhyme. The ending rhyme is placed on the last stressed syllable of the line, which is the most common rhyme part, just like the rhyme of China's poems; In-line rhyme means that the stressed syllable in the middle of a line rhymes with the last stressed syllable in the line.

According to the number of rhyming syllables, it can be divided into:

Single rhyme, also known as male rhyme. Rhyme is limited to the last syllable stressed in the line, which is strong and powerful.

Double rhyme, also called female rhyme. Rhymes on two connected syllables, the latter is an unstressed syllable, which often gives people a sense of lightness and elegance.

Three rhymes, that is, three connected syllables rhyme, are often used in humorous poems and satirical poems.

English blank poems refer to poems that don't rhyme but have a fixed rhythm and length.

The main characteristics of English free verse are that it does not follow the traditional rhyme and meter, and the line length is irregular. Its rhythm unit is not a step, but a larger word group, short sentences and even paragraphs.