Some Prosody Terms

(英语诗韵学有关专名)

I．英诗的韵 (RHYME)

英语诗歌的押韵可以根据单词的内音素重复的部位不同而分成不同种类，最常见的有头韵（Alliteration）、谐元韵（Assonance）和尾韵（Rhyme）。头韵指词首重复，如defeat和despair；谐元韵是指词中重读元音重复，如great和jade；尾韵则指词尾音素重复，如great和late。但一行诗中可能同时存在多种押韵形式：

The light that lies in women's eyes. --Thomas Moore

这行诗中既有头韵light和lies，谐元韵light、lies、eyes，又有且有尾韵lies和eyes。 此外英语诗歌中还有：

眼韵（Eye rhyme，拼写相同发音不同的词尾元素）：

如：gone -- alone; daughter -- laughter; tough -- through

谐辅韵（Consonance，元音不同，其前后的辅音相同）： 如：black -- block; creak -- croak; reader -- rider; despise -- dispose.

行内韵（Internal rhyme，诗行中间停顿处的重读音节与行末重读音节押韵者）： 如：

Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king;

Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring

男韵（Masculine rhyme，也叫单韵，所押的韵音局限于诗行中重读的末尾音节上，听起来强劲有力）

如：late -- fate; hill -- fill; enjoy -- destroy

女韵（Feminine rhyme，也叫双韵，押在两个音节上，后一音节非重读音节，听起来或轻快或幽婉）

如：lighting -- fighting; motion -- ocean; wining -- beginning.

II．韵法（RHYMING SCHEME）

英语诗歌的行与行之间的押韵格式称韵法（Rhyming Scheme），又称韵式、韵脚。常见有两行转韵（AABB）、隔行押韵（ABCB）、隔行交互押韵（ABAB）和交错押韵（ABBA）。

请看下例 (Charlotte Bronte’s On the Death of Anne Bronte)：

There’s little joy in life for me, a

And little terror in the grave; b

I’ve lived the parting hour to see a

Of one I would have died to save. b

因此这首诗的韵法是abab。

III．格律 （METER）

英诗格律（Meter）由基本单位音步（Foot）按特定数目的重读音节（Stresses or Beats）和弱读音节按特定方式构成。常见格律有：

1． Iambus （抑扬格）: a foot with one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, as in the word

ˇ ′

“afraid”

2． Trochee （扬抑格）: a foot with one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed

syllable, as in the word

′ ˇ

“heather”

3． Anapest （抑抑扬格）: a foot with two unstressed syllables followed by one

stressed syllable, as in the word

ˇ ˇ ′

“disembark”

4． Dactyl （扬抑抑格）: a foot with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed

syllables, as in the word

′ˇˇ

“solitude”

5． Spondee （扬扬格）: a foot with two stressed syllables, as in the word

′ ′

“workday”

6． Pyrrhic （抑抑格）: a foot with two unstressed syllables, as in the last foot of the

word

ˇ ′ ˇˇ

“unspeak︱ably

7． Amphibrach （抑扬抑格）: a foot with an unstressed syllable, one stressed syllable,

and another unstressed syllable, as in the word

ˇ ′ ˇ

“another”

8． Ampimacer （扬抑扬格）: a foot with a stressed syllable, one unstressed syllable,

and another stressed syllable, as in

′ ˇ ′

“up and down”

A line of poetry is described as iambic, trochaic, anapestic, or dactylic according to

what kind of foot appears most often in the line.

Lines （诗行）are also described in terms of the number of feet that occur in them, as follows:

1． Monometer（单格诗行）: verse written in one-foot lines.

2． Dimeter（两格诗行）: verse written in two-foot lines.

3． Trimeter（三格诗行）: verse written in three-foot lines.

4． Tetrameter（四格诗行）: verse written in four-foot lines.

5． Pentameter（五格诗行）: verse written in five-foot lines.

6． Hexameter（六格诗行）: verse written in six-foot lines.

7． Heptameter（七格诗行）: verse written in seven-foot lines.

A complete description of the meter of a line tells both how many feet there are in the line and what kind of foot is most common, for example, “iambic pentameter”, “iambic tetrameter”. Poetry that does not have a regular meter is called FREE VERSE.

IV．诗节 （STANZA）

A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, seen as a unit. Many poems are divided into stanzas that are separated by spaces. Stanzas often function like paragraphs in prose. Each stanza states and develops one main idea.

Stanzas are commonly named according to the number or lines found in them, as follows:

1. couplet: a two-line stanza

2. tercet: a three-line stanza

3. quatrain: a four-line stanza

4. cinquain: a five-line stanza

5. sestet: a six-line stanza

6. heptastich: a seven-line stanza

7. octave: an eight-line stanza

The introduction above is based on The quintessence of English and American Literature – A Reader’s Guide (by Long Maozhong et al. East China Science and Technology University Press, 2004) and other data.