【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 leasure have all been given in words. More thought now needs to be given to the words in which these reactions have been expressed. As you think about your puzzlement, interest and pleasure, you will see that you need to write about how the words have stirred these reactions in you. You might want to write about how the words create meanings, about how they form lines, rhythms and stanzas, and about how they rhyme and make patterns of sounds. Tone is a technical word standing for the poise, mood, voice, manner, attitude and outlook of a poet. The tone of a poem may be cold, cynical, bitter, troubled, uncertain, eager, bragging, gleeful, resigned or protesting. There are, of course, many others. Tone is the most general of all the technical words because it can be applied to many aspects of poetry. For instance, you can ask about the tone of a simile, the tone of a particular rhythm, and the tone of a whole poem. That last point is very importantvirtually every poem has a tone. The tone might be difficult to characterize, or you may be uncertain as to whether a poem is serious or amusing, but if it is a poem it almost certainly must take up an attitude or outlook, or have a mood, voice or manner. Therefore, it is wise to discuss tone before all the other terms. Because every poem has a tone, you must think about it at some point when you study a poem. You can do this as soon as you are fairly clear what the poem is about. Sometimes, you will feel you want to, because what has most interested you is the tone. On other occasions, other aspects of a poem will immediately puzzle, interest or give you pleasure, so you will want to think about them first. You must not ignore tone, so it is wise to ask, at some time during your study of a poem. How far have we got with our idea of a general approach to a poem? Before you start detailed study of a poem, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what the poem is about. Once you have got that idea, you can then proceed with questioning yourself about what puzzles and interests that give you pleasure. Whatever you say about these things, you must, at some point, think about the tone of the poem, and expect to find the words enacting their meanings.AnonymousWestern Wind1Western wind, when will thou2 blow,The small rain down can rain?3Christ, if my love were in my armsAnd I in my bed again!4 Notes:1. Western wind: Western wind in England is equal to the east or spring wind in the east countries.2. wilt thou: will you3. The small rain …:（So that）the small rain can fall down?4. “Ifclause” here expresses a wish of the speaker, that is, “I wish that my love were in my arms, and that I were in my bed again!’Sir Patrick Spens1The king sits in Dumferling toune2, Drinking the bludereid3 wine:“O whar4 will I get guid sailor, To sail this schip5 of mine?”Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the king’s richt kne6:“Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor, That sails upon the se7.”The king has written a braid letter8, And signed it wi’ his hand。And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens, Was walking on the sand.The first line that Sir Patrick red, A Loud lauch9 lauched he:The next line that Sir Patrick red, The teir10 blinded his ee11.“O wha12 is this has don13 this deid14, This ill deid don to me。To send me out this time o’ the yeir15, To sail upon the se?”“Mak haste, mak haste, my mirry men all16, Our guid schip sails the morne17.”“O say na sae18, my master deir19, For I feir a deadlie storme.”“Late, late yestreen20 I saw the new mooneWi’ the auld moone in hir arme21。 And I feir22, I feir, my deir master, That we will cum to harme23.”O(jiān) our Scots nobles wer richt laith24 To weet25 their corkkeild shone26。Bot lang owre a’ the play wer playd,27 Their hats they swam aboone28.O lang29, lang, may their ladies sit Wi’ their fans into their hand,Or eir30 they se Sir Patrick Spens Cum31 Sailing to the land.O lang, lang, may the ladies stand, Wi’ their gold kems32 in their hair,Waiting for their ain33 deir lords, For they’ll se thame na Haf owre35, haf owre to Aberdour, It’s fiftie fadom deip36,And thair37 lies guid Sir Patrick Spens, Wi’ the Scots lords at his feit38.Notes: Ballad is a poem of verse to be sung or recited and characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form. Though the ballad is a form still much written , the socalled popular ballad in most literatures belongs to the early periods before written literature was highly developed. Traditional or “popular” ballads still appear, however, in isolated sections and among illiterate and semiliterate peoples. Very often the old ballads, however, were not the work of one poet alone. Later poets or even ordinary members of the audience listening to a ballad, would add a stanza here, a few lines there. And pretty often, in their excitement, they exaggerated the deeds of the hero in whose honour the poem was posed. Thus there grew up round these heroes a mass of legend. The early storypoems were, you might say, fiction founded on fact。 but the core of them was that kind of heroworship which you yourselves feel for men and women whose great deeds or fine qualities stir your imagination.Certain mon characteristics of the early ballads should be noted: the supernatural and superstitious are likely to play an important part in events, physical courage and love are frequent themes, the incidents are usually such as happen to mon people (as opposed to the nobility) and often have to do with domestic episodes (local history), slight attention is paid to characterization or description, transitions are abrupt, action is largely developed through dialogue, tragic situations are presented with the utmost simplicity, incremental repetition is mon, a single episode of a highly dramat