How To Appreciate Poetry

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How to appreciate poetry Most readers consider poetry easy to read but hard to understand. In deed, poetry embodies extreme eloquence of a language and hence it is thought of as the finest form of literature. Nearly all poets do not express their perceptions directly, usually decorated with diversified artist skills. To make it simple, the appreciation of poetry may follow four steps: enjoy the sound when we read, observe the form the poem takes, visualize the image the poet established and at last reflect upon the theme the poet conveys. Rhythm and Rime A single line of a poem is called a verse. In each verse, the order of stressed and unstressed syllables usually occurs repeatedly so as to produce a music like pattern. This pattern is called rhythm. The same as a beat in music, one beat of the rhythm is defined as a foot, while the number of feet in a line is measured by meter. For example: The au / tumn time / has come For the moon / never beams / without bring / ing me dream Of the first verse, one unstressed syllable is followed by one stressed syllable and there are three beats like that, so the verse is called iambic (the name of the foot) trimeter (three feet) line. Similarly, in the second verse, two unstressed syllables are followed by one stressed, which is named: anapestic tetrameter line. The most commonly applied rhythm is iambic pentameter (an iambic line with five feet), as shown Sonnets and lots of Romantists’ works. Kinds of foot: The iambic foot, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. And then / my heart / with pleas/ure fills The trochaic foot, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable Shake your / chains to / earth like / dew The anapestic foot, consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
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