在英语诗歌中，有很多是格律诗。格律诗要求具备严格的音步、押韵、诗行、诗节划分等各个方面的规律，这一点和中文格律诗的要求是一致的。例如五言绝句，首先必须每行为五个字，一个诗节，共四行，20字。可平起，也可仄起，但以仄起更为常见。平仄在有严格规律的基础上，可有变通：　　

        (平)平平仄仄，(仄)仄仄平平。(仄)仄平平仄， 平平仄仄平。

    还可以是：

        (仄)仄仄平平，(仄)仄仄平平。(仄)仄平平仄， 平平仄仄平。

    这里括号中就是可变通的地方，即可平可仄。

    五绝韵式上一般是每行的最后一字为韵字，首句不入韵为常见。

    比较英文诗歌，可以说，英文讲究轻重音，类似中文的平仄。轻为平，重为仄。韵律上英文诗歌花样比中文多，我转载的何功杰老师的几篇文章有比较详细的说明，请参阅。轻重音的布局安排，如轻重、重轻、轻轻重、重重轻、轻轻轻重等等，都决定了英语诗歌的韵律meter。用莎士比亚十四行诗做例子，每行必须十个音节（可变通，可以是9个或11个），五个音步，其中至少有三个音步是轻重（抑扬）格。这样死板的规定，使英语格律诗的写作有相当的难度，尤其是一行中出现了音节较多的字，就很容易超出10个音节的规定。另外，英语双音节以上的词都有重音问题，这也影响到音步。然而，有些时候，对待这些问题，还是有计可施的。下面是我以前作的笔记，我们来看看名家们的“雕虫小技”有哪些。

 

一、减少音节
英文格律诗写作中，最常见的问题是音节过多，解决的办法：1，选用音节少的同义词代替多音节词，如：only à sole；2，改换句式，将用词多的句式改为用词少的，如：I have two loves, one is comfort and the other is despair à Two loves I have, of comfort and despair (Shakespeare sonnet CXLIV)；3， 用 “’”符号来表示声音的省略。下面是这个用法的解释和出处（注意，不是每个用法都可以省略音节）：

a’ = all

“My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose” Robert Burns

an' = and

"Fater" Edgar Guest

“Gunga Din” Rudyard Kipling

‘arf = half

“Gunga Din” Rudyard Kipling

‘em = them

"If ----" Rudyard Kipling; "Father" Edgar Guest

'd = ed

"When I Have Fears" John Keats; "We Kiss'd Again With Tears" Alfred, Lord Tennyson

prov’d = proved “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds” Shakespeare

lov’d = loved  “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds” Shakespeare

call’d = called  “Song” Thomas Moore

wither’d = withered “To His Lute” Sir Thomas Wyatt

unus’d = unused “When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought” Shakespeare

cancell’d = cancelled  “When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought” Shakespeare

vanish’d = vanished  “When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought” Shakespeare

这个ed的省略用法很普遍，在很多诗人的诗歌中都出现过。这里只是几个例子而已。

‘e = he

“Gunga Din” Rudyard Kipling

‘ead = head

“Gunga Din” Rudyard Kipling

e’er = ever

“The Coliseum” Edgar Allan Poe

这个ever和后面的every，never的省略用法也很常见。

‘ere = there

“Gunga Din” Rudyard Kipling

ev'ry = every

"Prayer for This House" Louis Untermeyer

“Ah, Fading Joy” John Dryden

i’ = in

“On billows, leave i’ th’ midst a horrid vale” -- “Paradise Lost” John Milton

in' = ing  eg. feelin' = feeling

"Fellwoship" author Unknown

常见

'mid = amid

"Homw, Sweet Home" John Howard Yayne

“Song” Thomas Moore

“Miss You” David Cory

“Daisy” Francis Thompson

常见

'neath = beneath

"Home, Sweet Home" John Howard Payne;

"Home Is Where There is One to Love Us" Charles Swain

ne’er = never

“To a Skylark” Percy Bysshe Shelley

“If Love Be Love” Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“Native Land” Sir Walter Scott

“Composed upon Westminster Bridge” William Wordsworth

o' = of

"Fellwoship" author Unknown

“My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose” Robert Burns

o'er = over

"On His Blindness" John Milton;

"Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight" Rose Hartwick Thorpe;

"Nature" H. W. Longfellow;

"To One in Paradise" Edgar Allan Poe

“To a Skylark” Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Daybreak” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought” Shakespeare

“My Lost Youth” Longfellow

“The Lamb” William Blake

“My Playmate” John Greenleaf Whittier

非常常见

'round = around

"Home" Edgar Guest

't = that

"Aladdin" James Russell Lowell

't = it

“The Apology” Ralph Waldo Emerson

t' = to

"Home" Edgar Guest

th' = the

"The Dead" Jones Very

“The Author to Her Book” Anne Bradstreet

“Still to Be Neat” Ben Jonson

“Hamlet” “Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely”

“That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes”  Shakespeare

“Paradise Lost” “On billows, leave i’ th’ midst a horrid vale” John Milton

‘tis = it is

“One Year to Live” Mary Davis Reed;

"from India" Michael Drayton;

"A Thankful Heart" Robert Herrick

“Song” Thomas Moore

“Give All to Love” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The Old Stoic” Emily Brontë

“Ode to a Nightingale” John Keats

常见

tho' = though

"Crossing the Bar" Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose” Robert Burns

常见

thro' = through

"The Pessimist" Ben King;

"Home, Sweet Home" John Howard Payne

 ‘twas = it was

“Miss You” David Cory

“The Legacy” John Donne

“My Last Duchess” Robert Browning

“Upon Love” Robert Herrick

常见

'Twere

"Farewell" Lord Byron

‘twill = it will

“Give All to Love” Ralph Waldo Emerson

wher'er = wherever

"My Days Among the Dead" Robert Southey

“My Last Duchess” Robert Browning

比较常见

wi’ = with

“My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose” Robert Burns

 

二、增加音节
音节少了也有办法，把本来不发音的改为发音的，用“é”或“è”表示。（两种都见过）
belovéd = beloved  2 → 3 syllables

“When Our Two Souls Stand Up” Elizabeth Barrett Browning

enlargéd = enlarged  2 → 3 syllables

“To Althea, from Prison” Richard Lovelace

unconfinéd = unconfined   3 → 4 syllables

“To Althea, from Prison” Richard Lovelace

embracèd = embarced 2 → 3 syllables

“Ode to Psyche” John Keats

unmovèd = unmoved 2 → 3 syllables

“Sonnet XCIV” Shakespeare

turnèd = turned 1 → 2 syllables

filèd = filed 1 → 2 syllables

“To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare: and what he Hath Left Us” Ben Johnson

 

三、改变重音
刚才说过，由于音步中轻重音的安排需要，有时不得不做这样的处理：
dèspair ---- despair

“And dèspairs day, but for thy volume’s light”  --- “To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare: and what he Hath Left Us” Ben Johnson

 

以上三种情形，属第一种最为常见，第二种其次，最少见的是第三种。