诗歌韵律

Metrics in English Poetry By Samuel Schuman, Univ. of MN, Morris

Metrics How to go about the analysis of the rhythm, the meter and the rhyme scheme of an English poem.

(作者通篇都是用下面这首简单的小诗来介绍诗歌)

A Stupid Poem

I put my hat upon my head And walked into the strand And there I met another man Whose hat was in his hand.

First, divide the lines into syllables(音节), and count them:

I / put / my / hat / up/on / my / head (8) And / walked / in/to / the / strand (6) And / there / I / met / a/noth/er / man (8) Whose / hat / was / in / his / hand (6)

(诗歌分析的第一步是划分音节。 对我们这样非英语母语的人可能有点困难。 基本的方法是一个元音一个音节， 例如 upon是两个音节，another是三个音节。 有的时候诗人为了强调方言等原因， 会使用省略字， 这种情况就要具体问题具体分析了。也有的时候是为了凑音节而省略的)

Which syllables are accented or “stressed?”(重读)

“Stress” in English poetic metrics means “said loudly.” It has nothing to do with the tension in your life. The symbol u means unstressed; the symbol / means stressed(诗歌里的重读，与一个单词本身发音里的重读未必是一回事。一般来说，重读的词，都是有实际意义， 在句子中起重要作用的词。 只

要听清重读的词，就能够理解一句话的意思。 比如第一句， 听清了 put/hat/pon/head 这四个字就大致知道说的是什么， 而只听清楚 I/my/u/my 这四个字的话......)

u / u / u / u /

u / u / u / u / I put my hat upon my head u / u / u / And walked into the strand u / u / u / u / And there I met another man u / u / u / Whose hat was in his hand

Notice the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables:

In this poem, there is a repeated pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable: (在这首诗里面， 总是一个重读的音节跟着一个非重读的音节)

I PUT / my HAT / upON / my HEAD

The smallest unit (always 2 or 3 syllables) of repeated patterned stress is called a “poetic foot.”(音步? 我译的对吗？) Here, the first foot is “I put” the second “my hat” and so on.(若干个重读/非重读的音节重复出现，就构成了诗歌里最小的组成部分 - 音步)

In this idiotic poem, the lines are made up of alternating numbers of “feet:” Line 1 has 4 feet, line 2 has 3 feet, line 3 has 4 feet, and line 4 has 3 feet.(这首诗的音步是交替的四音步/三音步)

Here, I’ve indicated the “feet:”

I put * my hat * upon * my head (4 ft.) And walked * into * the strand (3) And there * I met * anoth*er man (4) Whose hat * was in * his hand (3)

Types of Poetic Feet

u / Iambic (抑扬格) - unstressed, stresssed (u /) - re peat

/ u Trochaic (扬抑格) - (/ u) - un it

u u / Anapestic(抑抑扬格) - (u u /) - in ter cede

/ u u Dactylic(抑扬扬格) - (/ u u) - wash ing ton (这个单词字典上没查到，是我自己杜撰的）

/ / Spondaic（扬扬格） - (/ /) - heart break

Types of Poetic Lines (Number of Feet)(下面就简单了，学过字根的应该都认识哦。 单音步，二音步，以次类推。）Monometer - 1 foot (e.g. “I put.”) Dimeter - 2 (I put my hat) Trimeter - 3 (I put my hat upon) Tetrameter - 4 (I put my hat upon my head) Pentameter - 5 Hexameter - 6 Heptameter - 7So...for example, “trochaic tetrameter(扬抑格四音步）” is a line with 4 feet (8 syllables) with a pattern of stress-unstress in each foot: (一句题外话， 中文的什么 五音步抑扬格， 除了考试，还得是中文考试，或者骗骗MM, 一点用处也没有。)

/ u * / u * / u * / u Lovely Morris figures rebates

and, “iambic pentameter” means five feet (10 syllables) with each foot

consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable:

u / * u / * u /*u /* u / “Which alters when it alteration finds”

Most of Shakespeare’s verse is “iambic pentameter.” (知道莎翁用的大部分是 五音步抑扬格，就可以开始骗人喽)

What is the form of the “stupid poem” we have been examining?

u / u / u / u / I put * my hat * upon * my head u / u / u / And walked * into * the strand u / u / u / u / And there * I met *anoth*er man u / u / u / Whose hat * was in * his hand.

ANSWER:It is all iambic, with alternating lines of TETRAMETER (4 feet - lines 1 & 3) and TRIMETER (3 feet - lines 2 & 4). No problem, right?

And now, for something easier--

Rhyme Schemes(韵律安排？)The sound of the last syllable of every line is assigned a letter, beginning with “a”(韵律划分是诗歌分析的关键。 每一行的最后一个音节是一个韵律，用字母表示。 第一个韵律是a, 以次类推。 遇到和前面重复的韵律就用和前面相同的字母标记。)

I put my hat upon my head (a) And walked into the strand (b) And there I met another man (c) Whose hat was in his hand (b) The rhyme scheme is: a b c b

Stanzas(节）