韵律和节奏是诗歌的一大特点，先来一首有韵律的文字：
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone,
To which we twenty-eight assign
Till leap year makes it twenty-nine.
[b]Notes:[/b]
hath=has
"To which we twenty-eight assign"修饰February，即we assign twenty-eight to February.
当然有韵律，有节奏的文字未必一定是诗，上面那段便不是。诗得用特殊的方式来说话，比如
FOR A LADY I KNOW
She even thinks that up in heaven
Her class lies late and snores,
While poor black cherubs rise at seven
To do celestial chores.
[b]Notes:[/b]
class: 阶层，阶级
snore: 打呼噜
cherub: 天使
rise: 起床
celestial: 天国的，天堂的
chore: 家庭杂务，繁重的工作
这是Countee Cullen写的一首讽刺种族偏见的诗。
诗比一般的文章读起来要困难，因为诗人很少会直接将想说的话说出来，更多的是做暗示。诗的语言也和一般说话不同，旧诗更是如此。请看济慈这首诗：
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight 's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
此诗第二行用了特别的词序，正常说应该是
And build a small cabin there, made of clay and wattles;
这样做一是为了押韵（made和第四句的glade同韵），二是为了强调某些词，如a small cabin。第三行的“Nine bean rows will I have there”是倒装，实际上是I will have nine bean rows there. 第二节开头说“peace...dropping from the veils of the morning..."，veil指的是女子的面纱，早晨又不是女人，怎么会有面纱呢？安宁怎么会从早晨的面纱掉下来呢？这当然是指诗人在朦胧的晨色中感到安宁了，但诗人却用特别方式说出来，这便是诗的语言。
再如倒数第二行的on the pavements gray实际上是on the gray pavements，把gray摆到句尾，可以和前面的day押韵，也是为了强调pavements的色彩。为什么要强调这个“灰色”呢？是为了和第二节中描绘的色彩做对比。第二节中有purple glow，有linnet这种鸟。查下字典就知道linnet指朱顶鸟，有棕色的羽毛。灰色与紫色、棕色对比其实是单调和多彩的对比。诗人站在路边，或人行道上想象着Innisfree这个小岛是如此的美丽，湖水拍岸的声音还在心里回响。似乎诗人厌倦了单调的城市生活，向往着回归大自然哩！你看他要在那岛上建个cabin，而且还要用原始材料来建（泥土，枝条）。还要住在一个bee-loud glade，充满蜜蜂嗡嗡声的林间空地。如果要总结一下，此诗的主旨是：我要离开城市，寻找一个乐土，一个可以给我安宁，快乐的地方。但直接说这样的话就太明显了，完全没有诗意；而济慈则是借用了具体的形象来暗示这点，这便是诗歌这种文体的最大特色。
英语抒情诗（lyric poetry）源于古希腊的吟唱诗，即随着lyre这种乐器唱出来的诗。近代的抒情诗已经和音乐没有直接的联系了，诗人写出来是给人读的，而不是唱的。抒情诗大致可定义为表现一个叙述者的思想感情的短诗。有的抒情诗用第一人称，给人感觉是诗人个人的感受，有的则描写一个物体或一处景物，诗中似乎看不到人物的影子。以下D. H. Lawrence的诗表达的是诗人缅怀儿时光景的感受。
PIANO
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
[b]Notes:[/b]
tingle: 发叮当声
insidious: 有趣但有害的，诱人上当的。
clamour: 发出大的，持久的喊声
appasionato: [i]Italian[/i] impassioned; a music piece played with passion and enthusiasm
此诗有不少跨行诗句（enjambment），是初学英诗的人要适应的。中国的古诗一般是一行一句，极少把一句分开写两三行的，更别说是从一行诗的中间来另起一句了。比如第二节中“the insidious mastery of song betrays me back”，接着“till the heart of me weeps to belong to the old Sunday evenings at home”，都是把句子或分句分到两行里。第三节的第二行，“The glamour of childish days is upon me,”则是在诗行后半截起新句子。这样做当然是为了做韵律安排，有的英诗中的跨行诗句可以连续十几行这样写下去，看起来还真是蛮费劲的。
抒情诗有时会描写一个场景或提及某个事件，但通常不会讲述一连串的事件，叙事诗（narrative poem或ballad）才会这样做。叙事诗在西方有悠久的历史，荷马史诗便是在早于公元前700年写成。以下这首中世纪苏格兰叙事诗讲一位国王在天气恶劣的情况下派遣Patrick Spence带领他的船出海的故事。
SIR PATRICK SPENCE
The King sits in Dumferling town,
Drinking the blood-red wine;
"O where shall I get a good skipper
To sail this ship or mine?"
Then up and spake an eldern knight,
Sat at the King's right knee:
"Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor
That ever sailed the sea."
The King has written a broad letter,
And signed it with his hand,
And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence,
Was walking on the strand.
The first line that Sir Patrick read,
A loud laugh laughed he;
The next line that Sir Patrick read,
The tear blinded his ee.
"O who is this has done this deed,
This ill deed done to me,
To send us out at this time of the year,
To sail upon the sea?
"Make haste, make haste, my merry men all,
Our good ship sails at morn."
"Now, ever alack, my master dear
I fear a deadly storm.
"Late late yestreen I saw the new moon
With the old moon in her arm;
And I fear, I fear, my master dear,
That we will come to harm."
O our Scots nobles were right loth
To wet their cork-heeled shoon,
But long ere all the play was played
Their hats they swam aboon.
O lang, lang may their ladies sit,
With their fans into their hand,
Or ere they see Sir Patrick Spence
Come sailing to the land.
O lang, lang may the ladies stand
With their gold combs in their hair,
Waiting for their own dear loves,
For they'll see them nae mair.
O forty miles of Aberdeen,
'Tis fifty fathoms deep;
And there lies good Sir Patrick Spence,
With the Scots lords at his feet.
[b]Notes:[/b]
skipper: Master of a ship.
spake: A past tense of speak.
strand: A beach.
alack: Used to express sorrow or alarm.
yestreen: [i]Scots[/i] Yesterday evening.
loth: loath, unwilling or reluctant.
shoon: [i]Archaic[/i] shoes.
ere: [i]Archaic[/i] before.
aboon: above (their heads)
lang: [i]Scots[/i] long.
nae: [i]Scots[/i] no, not.
mair: [i]Scots[/i] more.
'Tis=it's
和小说不同，叙事诗未必会将人物故事的背景做详细的交代。诗中并没说那个国王为什么在这个时候派船出海，也没有详细介绍Sir Patrick Spence是何许人也。故事很简单，主题也很普遍：勇敢忠诚的爵士不畏牺牲。诗的结尾写到爵士和他的船员死了，他们的爱人永远也等不到他们归来了。勇敢人物的悲剧是文学中常见的主题。
Sir Patrick Spence一开始就知道任务的危险，但仍然勇敢地去面对死亡。诗中并没有说具体是什么任务，也没写船是怎么沉没的，只是提到最终他们的帽子在海面漂浮。诗开头用blood-red来形容国王喝的酒，似乎在暗示他残暴的本性。诗中有几节用了类似中国诗叠字的手法，这也是英语叙事诗常用的。如“And I fear, I fear, my master dear, That we will come to harm.”表现船员的忧虑。后面“O lang, lang may their ladies sit...O lang, lang may the ladies stand...”使人对死者爱人未来的命运顿感同情。
由于此诗较古老，有些词对读者来说颇为陌生。不过最好还是大声朗诵一下，感受一下此诗的节奏。
（转自http://bbs.chinaunix.net/archiver/tid-855627.html）
PIANO
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
[b]Notes:[/b]
tingle: 发叮当声
insidious: 有趣但有害的，诱人上当的。
clamour: 发出大的，持久的喊声
appasionato: [i]Italian[/i] impassioned; a music piece played with passion and enthusiasm
此诗有不少跨行诗句（enjambment），是初学英诗的人要适应的。中国的古诗一般是一行一句，极少把一句分开写两三行的，更别说是从一行诗的中间来另起一句了。比如第二节中“the insidious mastery of song betrays me back”，接着“till the heart of me weeps to belong to the old Sunday evenings at home”，都是把句子或分句分到两行里。第三节的第二行，“The glamour of childish days is upon me,”则是在诗行后半截起新句子。这样做当然是为了做韵律安排，有的英诗中的跨行诗句可以连续十几行这样写下去，看起来还真是蛮费劲的。
抒情诗有时会描写一个场景或提及某个事件，但通常不会讲述一连串的事件，叙事诗（narrative poem或ballad）才会这样做。叙事诗在西方有悠久的历史，荷马史诗便是在早于公元前700年写成。以下这首中世纪苏格兰叙事诗讲一位国王在天气恶劣的情况下派遣Patrick Spence带领他的船出海的故事。
SIR PATRICK SPENCE
The King sits in Dumferling town,
Drinking the blood-red wine;
"O where shall I get a good skipper
To sail this ship or mine?"
Then up and spake an eldern knight,
Sat at the King's right knee:
"Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor
That ever sailed the sea."
The King has written a broad letter,
And signed it with his hand,
And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence,
Was walking on the strand.
The first line that Sir Patrick read,
A loud laugh laughed he;
The next line that Sir Patrick read,
The tear blinded his ee.
"O who is this has done this deed,
This ill deed done to me,
To send us out at this time of the year,
To sail upon the sea?
"Make haste, make haste, my merry men all,
Our good ship sails at morn."
"Now, ever alack, my master dear
I fear a deadly storm.
"Late late yestreen I saw the new moon
With the old moon in her arm;
And I fear, I fear, my master dear,
That we will come to harm."
O our Scots nobles were right loth
To wet their cork-heeled shoon,
But long ere all the play was played
Their hats they swam aboon.
O lang, lang may their ladies sit,
With their fans into their hand,
Or ere they see Sir Patrick Spence
Come sailing to the land.
O lang, lang may the ladies stand
With their gold combs in their hair,
Waiting for their own dear loves,
For they'll see them nae mair.
O forty miles of Aberdeen,
'Tis fifty fathoms deep;
And there lies good Sir Patrick Spence,
With the Scots lords at his feet.
[b]Notes:[/b]
skipper: Master of a ship.
spake: A past tense of speak.
strand: A beach.
alack: Used to express sorrow or alarm.
yestreen: [i]Scots[/i] Yesterday evening.
loth: loath, unwilling or reluctant.
shoon: [i]Archaic[/i] shoes.
ere: [i]Archaic[/i] before.
aboon: above (their heads)
lang: [i]Scots[/i] long.
nae: [i]Scots[/i] no, not.
mair: [i]Scots[/i] more.
'Tis=it's
和小说不同，叙事诗未必会将人物故事的背景做详细的交代。诗中并没说那个国王为什么在这个时候派船出海，也没有详细介绍Sir Patrick Spence是何许人也。故事很简单，主题也很普遍：勇敢忠诚的爵士不畏牺牲。诗的结尾写到爵士和他的船员死了，他们的爱人永远也等不到他们归来了。勇敢人物的悲剧是文学中常见的主题。
Sir Patrick Spence一开始就知道任务的危险，但仍然勇敢地去面对死亡。诗中并没有说具体是什么任务，也没写船是怎么沉没的，只是提到最终他们的帽子在海面漂浮。诗开头用blood-red来形容国王喝的酒，似乎在暗示他残暴的本性。诗中有几节用了类似中国诗叠字的手法，这也是英语叙事诗常用的。如“And I fear, I fear, my master dear, That we will come to harm.”表现船员的忧虑。后面“O lang, lang may their ladies sit...O lang, lang may the ladies stand...”使人对死者爱人未来的命运顿感同情。
由于此诗较古老，有些词对读者来说颇为陌生。不过最好还是大声朗诵一下，感受一下此诗的节奏。
（转自http://bbs.chinaunix.net/archiver/tid-855627.html）
