英语诗歌的韵律

发布时间：2016-5-21 编辑：互联⽹ ⼿机版

诗的⾳乐性除了来⾃节奏外，还来⾃韵律，即两⾏或更多的⾏压韵。英语的词要压韵必须符合以下条件：

1． 重读⾳节的元⾳应相同；2． 它前⾯的辅⾳应不同；3． 它后⾯如果有辅⾳，应相同；

4． 它后⾯如果还有轻读⾳节，也应相同。下⾯⼏对词是压韵的：

Why-sigh, hate-late, fight-delight, powers-flowers, today-away, ending-bending。

单⾳节词和重读在后双⾳节或更多⾳节的词压韵，叫“阳性韵”（masculine rhyme），如上⾯的why-sigh,hate-late等；重读⾳节后还有轻读⾳节的词压韵，叫“阴性韵”（feminine rhyme），如上⾯的ending-bending, powers-flowers等。请看这⾸诗的尾韵(end rhythm)：Snow-Flakes

Out of the bosom of the air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,Over the woodlands brown and bare,Over the harvest-fields forsaken,Silent, and soft, and slowDescend the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take

Suddenly shape in some divine expression,Even as the troubled heart doth makeIn the white countenance confession,The troubled sky revealsThe grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,Slowly in silent syllables recorded;This is the secret of despair,Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,Now whispered and revealed

To wood and field.

---H. W. Longfellow(1807-1882)

本诗尾韵的韵律格式为：第⼀节ababcc, 第⼆节为dedeff, 第三节为ahahii。同时本诗也有头韵。所谓头韵是指两个以上的词有相同的辅⾳开始。本⾸诗中的头韵有第⼀节的brown-bare，silent-soft-slow； 第⼆节的countenance-confession；第三节的slowly-silent-syllables。请欣赏下⾸诗：With rue my heart is ladenFor golden friends I had,For many a rose-lipt maidenAnd many a lightfoot lad.By brooks too broad for leapingThe lightfoot boys are laid;The rose-lipt girls are sleepingIn fields where roses fade.

---A. E. Housman (1859-1936), With Rue My Heart Is Laden

⾏内韵指⼀⾏内有符合压韵规则的两个或更多的词。它的作⽤主要是增加诗的⾳乐性，有时可以使⼏个词在意思上联系起来。如：

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,From the seas and streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laidIn their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that wakenThe sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother’s breast,As she dances about the sun.I wield the flail of the lashing hail.And whiten the green plains under,And then again I dissolve it in rain,And laugh as I pass in thunder.

Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822) The Cloud

历来都有诗⼈爱写⽆韵诗，尤其是诗剧和长篇的叙事诗。如莎⼠⽐亚的诗剧主要是五步抑扬格的⽆韵诗（blank verse），这种⽆韵诗的特⾊是⾃由、奔放、酣畅。请欣赏：Come, my friends,

’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.Though much is taken, much abides; and thoughWe are not now that stretch strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven, that which we are,We are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.---Alfred Tennyson(1809-12) Ulysses