英文詩歌基本知識（01-27-08，1st Edition） 基本上，英文詩詞有分非常多類，就美國學校八年級英文課程度來說的話，我能解釋的共有差不多九種左右，分別為 lyric poem 、 narrative poem 、 free verse ，和三大分類其中的 sonnet 、 epic 、 ballad 、 ode 、 elegy 、 couplet。
先說一說三大分類，分別為narrative poem（敘事詩） 、 lyric poem（抒情詩）和 free verse（自由詩）。
其實很好分辨，narrative poem（敘事詩）敘述故事、事件，並且得押運；Lyric poem（抒情詩）宣洩情感，描述感受；而free verse（自由詩）是唯一一種不拘限於格式、情調的詩種，且現代許多詩人都偏向於此類。
而narrative poem（敘事詩）和lyric poem（抒情詩）又有細分幾個小分類。
I. Narrative Poem Narrative poem（敘事詩）裡細分了epic（史詩）、ballad（民歌）兩種。
──i. Epic Epic（史詩）是很長的詩歌，內容是關於歷史人物，通常都為英雄角色。
像是A Thousand and One Night（書名，一千零一夜）裡頭，共有一百個英雄角色，那些其實也都算。
範例：
Hiawatha's Departure from The Song of HiawathaBy the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shown the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Aparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
And the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and triumph,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha. －－Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
──ii. Ballad Ballad（民歌）是簡單的歌或是詩詞，一定要有兩段或兩段以上，而且必須是再敘述一個故事。而若是歌，兩段唱出的旋律會是相同的。
範例：
Don't Cry Joni
(JONI:)
(Jimmy please say you'll wait for me)
(I'll grow up some day you'll see)
(saving all my kisses just for you)
(signed with love forever true)
Joni was the girl who lived next door
I've known her I guess 10 years or more
Joni wrote me a note one day
and this is what she had to say
(JONI:)
(Jimmy please say you'll wait for me)
(I'll grow up some day you'll see)
(saving all my kisses just for you)
(signed with love forever true)
Slowly I read her note once more
then I went over to the house next door
her tear drops fell like rain that day
when I told Joni what I had to say
Joni, Joni please don't cry
you'll forget me by and by
you're just 15, I'm 22
and Joni I just can't wait for you
Soon I left our little home town
got me a job and tried to settle down
but these words kept haunting my memory
the words that Joni said to me
(JONI:)
(Jimmy please say you'll wait for me)
(I'll grow up some day you'll see)
(saving all my kisses just for you)
(signed with love forever true)
I packed my clothes and I caught a plane
I had to see Joni, I had to explain
how my heart was filled with her memory
and asked my Joni if she'd marry me
I ran all the way to the house next door
but things weren't like they were before
my tear drops fell like rain that day
when I heard what Joni had to say
(JONI:)
(Jimmy, Jimmy please don't cry)
(you'll forget me by and by)
(it's been 5 years since you've been gone)
(Jimmy I married your best friend John.) －－Conway Twitty
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II. Lyric Poem Lyric poem（抒情詩），其中有分成四小分類，分別為ode（頌歌）、elegy（哀歌、挽歌）、sonnet（十四行詩、商籟詩）還有couplet（對句、雙韻）。
──i. Ode Ode（頌歌）必須是關於重要的、嚴肅的主題，像是感恩、死亡、愛或快樂、悲傷等。而ode（頌歌）大多數是讚揚的語調，且使用的英文必須是正統、高貴的。
範例：
ODE TO LOVE I look at you and see the love light in your eyes.
I look at you and see a life that is worth the living.
You give off a ray of love and kindness.
A beam of true compassion never felt before.
What a beauty of a woman lays here next to me.
Her life is full of wonder for all the world to see.
It is plain to see that she is the only one for me.
I will love her for all eternity, and beyond.
She fills my life with love.
For you see this lady is my wife. －－Henry and Crystal
──ii. Elegy Elegy（哀歌、挽歌）是關於某人的死亡。切記，是某人的死亡，而不是死亡，這點是主題為死亡的ode（頌歌）和elegy（哀歌、挽歌）之間最大的差別。
範例：
ExcerptThe curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
－－Thomas Gray──iii. Sonnet Sonnet（十四行詩、商籟詩）是種有固定格式的詩詞。它必須只能有一個主題，並且集中於那個單一主題上。必須要有十四行，通常每句都是iambic（抑揚格的、短長格的）。
Iambic（抑揚格的、短長格的）是詩句的重音應該是每兩個音節一次，促成了音一長一短的感覺。第一個音節必須是沒有重音的。
︶ 、 ︶ 、
舉個例子，From hedge to hedge
十四行詩裡頭又細分為兩小種，分別是Italian sonnet（義大利式十四行詩）和English sonnet（英式十四行詩）。
Italian sonnet（義大利式十四行詩）又名Petrarchan sonnet（佩脫拉克式十四行詩，佩脫拉克是義大利有名詩人。）。此類的sonnet（十四行詩、商籟詩）有個特定格式。前八行是個問題或是一個視點，後六句則是描述你的想法和意見。
範例：
Se la mia vita da l'aspro tormento
Si può tanto schermire, e da gli affanni,
Ch'i' veggia per vertú de gli ultimi anni,
Donna, de' be' vostr'occhi il lume spento,
E i cape' d'oro fin farsi d'argento,
E lassar le ghirlande e i verdi panni,
E 'I viso scolorir, che ne' miei danni
A llamentar mi fa pauroso e lento,
Pur mi dará tanta baldanza Amore,
Ch'i' vi discovrirò de' miei martiri
Qua' sono stati gli anni e i giorni e l'ore;
E se 'l tempo è contrario a i be' desiri,
Non fia ch'almen non giunga al mio dolore
Alcun soccorso di tardi sospiri. 英譯 If from the cruel anguish my life tries
To shield itself, and from the many cares,
That I may see at the end of the years,
Lady, the light extinguished of your eyes,
And the hair of fine gold to silver turn,
And garlands and green clothes all worn and spent,
And the face pale that in my sad concern
Makes me timid and slow now to lament,
Yet Love will give me such aggressive powers
That I shall tell you of my martyrdom
The years, such as they were, the days, the hours;
And when the time to kill desire is come,
At least my grief will know and recognize
The little comfort of late-coming sighs. English sonnet（英式十四行詩）又名Shakespearean sonnet（莎士比亞式十四行詩、莎翁式十四行詩）。此類的sonnet（十四行詩、商籟詩）是由三段組成，每段有四行。每段裡頭都是關於主題的，而English sonnet（英式十四行詩）是由七個couplet（對句、雙韻）組成。有關於couplet（對句、雙韻），下方會提到。
範例：
Sonnet No. 71 No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone. －－莎士比亞
──iv. Couplet Couplet（對句、雙韻）是種極短的詩，有特定格式。必須要有兩行，且大多數都是押韻的。
範例：
The panther is like a leopard,
Except it hasn’t been peppered. ──Ogden Nash, from
“The Panther”
III. Free Verse Free Verse（自由詩），完全沒有固定格式，內容可抽象、模糊、煽情、暴力、政治性。
範例：
The sounds I hear some new and strange,
some beautiful, some old.
Even though they don't mean much,
I think I mean much to them,
They listen to me when I have to say something
and I listen to them when they 'talk'
The one thing I know is that,
the sounds I hear they hear me. －－
This poem is from...＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝以上。
我重整了當初的筆記和之前貼出的版本，希望能夠讓大家有一點點認識，可是老實說上面的東西我覺得都不是很重要就是了。（然後重點是某個瘋子為了這種在她自己嘴裡不重要的東西浪費了一大堆時間和精力）
上面那些解釋都是我自己打的，範例也是我找的，雖然整篇下來並不是非常多或非常好，可是好歹也是我辛辛苦苦搞出來的東西。依照慣例，
我不給轉載。原因說好聽一點的話可以是：「這篇基本知識是為台論詩版打的，所以只能留在台論詩版」可是實際上的原因是：「狂熱者是個邪惡的大魔鬼」。
若有人未經同意轉走的話，我會盡我所能做出一切瘋狂的能讓轉載者痛苦的事，嗯就是這樣。
請相信我，我真的盡力了。
然後有興趣的話可以來一下這個英文網站：
Types of Poems，裡面有更多相關資訊。
樓)
