English poetry

1. Definition of poetry

Poetry, the most compressed form of literature, is composed of carefully chosen words expressing great depth of meaning; it uses specific devices such as connotation, sound, and rhythm to express the appropriate combination of meaning and emotion. 2. Basic elements of poetry (1) Sound

a. Rhyme (韵律)

End rhyme (尾韵)

The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings, With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale; The nightingale with feathers new she sings; The turtle to her make hath told her tale.

Internal rhyme （行间韵）

Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king, Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing. Beginning rhyme （头韵） Why should I have returned?

My knowledge would not fit into theirs.

I found untouched the desert of the unknown. Masculine rhyme (阳韵) fan / ran

Feminine / double rhyme（阴韵） lighting / fighting b. Rhyme scheme（韵式） (2) Rhythm

a. Meter（格律）: accentual-syllabic rhythm. Iamb (抑扬格)

a) The sound must seem an Echo to the Sense ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ b) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ Thou art more lovely and more temperate. ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ ﹀ ／ Troche (扬抑格)

a) And before the Summer ended ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀

Stood the maize in all its beauty ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀

b) Tyger! Tyger! burning bright ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀ ／

In the forests of the night. ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀ ／﹀

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Anapest （抑抑扬格）

a) the old inn and the lights, and the fire ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／

And the fiddler’s old tune and the shuffling of feet ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／

b) Not a sound hath escaped to thy servants

﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀ Dactyl （扬抑抑格）

a) Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／

c) Just for a handful of silver he left us, ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／﹀

Just for a / riband to / stick in his / coat.

／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／﹀﹀ ／ b. foot (音步)

Monometer(一音步), Dimeter（二音步）, Trimeter（三音步）, Tetrameter（四音步）, Pentameter（五音步）, Hexameter（六音步）,Heptameter（七音步）, Octameter（八音步）

a) The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold. ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀﹀／

(Anapaestic tetrameter)

b) That time of year thou mayst in me behold ﹀／ ﹀／ ﹀／ ﹀／ ﹀／

(Iambic pentameter) c) The night has a thousand eyes, ﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀／ And the day but one. ﹀﹀／ ﹀／

Yet the light of the bright world dies, ﹀ ﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀／ With the dying sun. ﹀﹀／ ﹀／

The mind has a thousand eyes, ﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀／ And the heart but one. ﹀﹀／ ﹀／

Yet the light of a whole life dies, ﹀ ﹀／ ﹀﹀／ ﹀／ When love is done. ﹀／ ﹀／

c. The Stanzaic Form (诗节) (Couplet, Triplet, Quatrain)

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(3) Imagery

(4) Figures of speech

Metaphor, simile, personification, synecdoche, metonymy, allusion, symbolism, paradox, overstatement, understatement. (5) Speaker, tone, subject, theme 3. Classification of poetry

1. Epic 2. Ballad 3. Heroic Couplet 4. Sonnet 5. Blank Verse 6. Elegy 7. Ode 8. Dramatic Monologue 9. Free Verse

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