英文诗歌是各种英语文体中最富有激情和感情色彩的一种文体。诗歌往往用高度凝练的语言来表达诗人的喜怒哀乐以及诗人对生活和客观世界的理解和感悟。当我们在欣赏一首诗时，可以通过文字捕捉到诗人的内心情感。一首优秀的诗可以以其特有的方式影响人们的精神世界。
一、诗歌的篇幅一般短小精悍，语言精练，感情强烈；在格式上，英语诗歌同汉语诗歌一样讲究押韵。诗的押韵是指通过重复元音或辅音以达到一定的音韵效果。一首诗的押韵具有带规律性的一致性，尤其是在诗句的末尾，称尾韵。下面我们来看Thomas Nashe的一首诗：
Spring
Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year’s pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The palm and may make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,
And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,
In every street theses tunes our ears do greet,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring! the sweet Spring!
这首诗押韵整齐，读起来很有节奏感， 表现了春天里万物复苏、生机盎然、一派欢乐祥和的生动景象。
二、现代诗歌可以押韵，也可以不押韵，但需注意两点：
1. 要有节奏感。没有节奏感的诗歌不能算诗，最多是分行的散文。
2. 要把握句子结构的平衡，也就是诗句长短不要相差太远，否则读起来给人不平衡、不舒服之感。
下面我们欣赏一首现代诗：
The Significance of Failure
Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure,
It does mean you haven’t succeeded yet.
Failure doesn’t mean you have accomplished nothing,
It does mean you have learned something.
Failure doesn’t mean you have been a fool,
It does mean you had a lot of faith.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve been disgraced,
It does mean you were willing to try.
Failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it,
It does mean you have to do something in a different way.
Failure doesn’t mean you are inferior,
It does mean you are not perfect.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your life,
It does mean you have a reason to start afresh.
Failure doesn’t mean you should give up,
It does mean you must try harder.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never make it,
It does mean it will take a little longer.
Failure doesn’t mean God has abandoned you,
It does mean God has a better idea.
这首诗是Robert Harold Schuller的一篇励志佳作。这首诗虽然句尾不押韵，但是由于每句诗都以排比的形式重复使用Failure doesn’t mean ... It does mean ...，使得整首诗节奏感很强，读起来催人奋进，使读者受到感染。
[佳作赏析]
When You Are Old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
这首诗的作者是William Butler Yeats（威廉·巴特勒·叶芝）。叶芝是爱尔兰最伟大的诗人之一 ，对现代诗影响很大。这首诗是叶芝写给自己心爱之人的情诗。诗中的主人公“你”指的是爱尔兰革命家Maud Gonne，诗人遇见她并爱上她，曾多次向其求婚，均未成功，但诗人对她爱慕终生，于是就有了这篇经典之作。
全诗共三节，前两节均是对Maud Gonne的爱意倾诉。第一节中虽然多次用第二人称“你”，但实际上是描述作者自己心中的所思所想。第二节中诗人采用了对比的手法，讲述了对Maud Gonne的爱慕之情，突出自己永恒的爱。最后一节诗人描述了自己内心悲伤的感情。诗中sleep / deep, book / look, grace / face, bars / stars, fled / overhead这几组韵调使诗歌富于音韵感，有音律美，节奏感强，读起来琅琅上口。纵观全诗，没有华丽的辞藻，也找不到甜蜜的情话，有的只是平淡的文字背后寄予的永恒的爱意和深情，反而能让读者久久回味。
