詩以高度凝結的語言表達著人們的喜怒哀樂，用其特有的節奏與方式影響著人們的精神世界。詩講究聯想，運用象征、比喻、擬人等各種修辭手法，形成了獨特的語言藝術。（有關修辭手法可參考相關書籍）。
壹、 詩的格律
“格律是指可以用腳打拍子的節奏”，是每個音步輕重音節排列的格式，也是朗讀時輕重音的依據。而音步是由重讀音節和非重讀音節構成的詩的分析單位。重讀音節為揚（重），在音節上用“－”或“ˊ”標示，非重讀音節為抑（輕），在音節上用“）”標示，音步之間可用“／”隔開。以下是五種常見格式：
1． 抑揚格（輕重格）Iambus：是最常見的壹種格式，每個音步由壹個非重讀音節加壹個重讀音節構成。
As fair / art thou / my bon/nie lass,
So deep / in luve / am I :
And I / will luve / thee still,/ my dear,
Till a` / the seas / gang dry:
Robert Burns(1759-1796): My Luve Is like a Red, Red Rose
註；art=are luve=love bonnie=beautiful a`=all gang=go
上例中為四音步與三音步交叉，可標示為：）－／）－／）－／（）－）
2．揚抑格（重輕格）Trochee：每個音步由壹個重讀音節加壹個非重讀音節構成。
下例中為四音步揚抑格（少壹個輕音節），可標示為：－）／－）／－）／－
Tyger!/ Tyger!/ burning / bright
In the / forests / of the / night
William Blake: The Tyger
3． 抑抑揚格（輕輕重格）Anapaestic foot: 每個音步由兩個非重讀音節加壹個重讀音節構成。如：三音步抑抑揚格））－／））－／））－
Like a child / from the womb,
Like a ghost / from the tomb,
I arise / and unbuild / it again.
4． 揚抑抑格（重輕輕格）Dactylic foot: 每個音步由壹個重讀音節加兩個非重讀音節構成。如：兩音步揚抑抑格－））／－））
ˊTouch her not / ˊscornfully,
ˊThink of her / ˊmournfully.
-- Thomas Hood
5． 抑揚抑格（輕重輕格）Amphibrach：每個音步由壹個非重讀音節加壹個重讀音節再加壹個非重讀音節構成。如：三音步抑揚抑格）－）／）－）／）－）
下例中最後壹個音步為抑揚格。
O ˊhush thee / my ˊbabie / thy ˊsire was / a knight.
在同壹首詩中常會出現不同的格律，格律解析對朗讀詩歌有壹定參考價值。現代詩中常不遵守規範的格律。
二、 詩的押韻
押韻是指通過重復元音或輔音以達到壹定音韻效果的詩歌寫作手法。
1． 尾韻：最常見，最重要的押韻方式。
1） 聯韻：aabb型。
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The Arrow and the Song
2） 交叉韻：abab型。
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
Alfred Tennyson(1809-1892): Crossing the Bar
3） 同韻：有的詩押韻，壹韻到底，大多是在同壹節詩中***用壹個韻腳。
如下例就***用／i:p／為韻腳。
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost (1874-1963): Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
2． 頭韻：是指壹行（節）詩中幾個詞開頭的輔音相同，形成押韻。下例中運用／f／、／b／與／s／頭韻生動寫出了船在海上輕快航行的景象。
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free,
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
T.S. Coleridge: Rime of the Acient Mariner
3．內韻（同元音）：指詞與詞之間原因的重復形成的內部押韻。
下面壹節詩中／i／及／iη／重復照應，呈現出壹派歡樂祥和的氣氛。
Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold dath not sting, the pretty birds do sing:
Cuckoo,jug-jug,pu-we,to-witta-woo!
Thomas Nashe(1567-1601): Spring, the Sweet Spring
三、 詩的體式
有的詩分成幾節（stanza），每節由若幹詩行組成（每行詩均以大寫字母開頭）；有的詩則不分節。目前我們常見的詩體有：
1． 十四行詩 (Sonnet)，源於中世紀民間抒情短詩，十三、十四世紀流行於意大利，意大利彼特拉克（Petrarch）為代表人物，每行十壹個音節，全詩壹節八行，加壹節六行，韻腳用abba, abba, cdcdcd (cdecde)。前八行提問，後六行回答。
後來，懷亞特（Thomas Wyatt,1503-1542）將十四行詩引人英國，五音步抑揚
格，全詩三個四行壹個二行,前三節提問，後二句結論。斯賓塞（Edmund
Spenser,1552-1599）用韻腳 abab, bcbc,cdcd,ee。莎士比亞（William
Shakespeare,1564-1616）用韻腳abab,cdcd,dfdf,gg，稱英國式或莎士比亞式。舉
例見本文第四部分。
2． 打油詩（Limericks）：通常是小笑話甚至是胡謅，壹般沒有標題也無作者姓名，含有幽默諷刺性，常運用雙關，內韻等手法。每首詩五個詩行，押韻為aabba，格律以抑揚格和抑抑揚格為主。
1) There was a young lady of Nigger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
2) A tutor who taught on the flute
Tried to teach two tooters to toot,
“Is it harder to toot, or
Said the two to the tutor,
To tutor two tooters to toot?”
3． 無韻體（Blank Verse）：五音步抑揚格，不押韻詩體。
Across the watery bale , and shout again,
Responsive to his call, -- with quivering peals,
And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud.
Redoubled and redoubled:concourse wild
Of jocund din!…
William Wordsworth: There Was a Boy
4． 自由詩（Free Verse）:現代詩中常見的體式，長短不同的詩行存在於同壹首詩中，不講究押韻與格律，只註重詩歌所表達的意象和傳遞的情感。美國詩人Walt Whitman的<<草葉集>>（Leaves of Grass）中，就采用此格式。例子見第四部分。
四、 詩的評判
對壹首詩，個人的感受會有不同。節奏流暢，語言精煉，聯想新穎的詩可算是好詩。堆砌詞藻，壹味抒發感情而無實際內容的詩，只能是下乘的詩。
二十世紀英美詩歌大量采用自由詩體，接近口語，可謂大膽創新，大概也是詩歌發展的大勢所趨吧。以下通過三首詩的分析看詩的評判。
1． That Time of Year
That time of year thou may’st in me behold
When yellow leaves,or none,or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang,
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
When by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie.
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This you perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Notes:may’st:may behold:see late:no long ago thou:you see’st:see
fadeth:fades doth:does seals up all at rest:徹底埋葬
thy:your perceivest: perceive ere long: before long
此詩是莎士比亞（William Shakespeare, 1564-1616）的壹首十四行詩。作為英國文學巨匠，他以37部劇作和154首十四行詩屹立於世界文壇。
此詩為五音步抑揚格，每個詩行格律為：）－／）－／）－／）－／）－／。
全詩涉及衰老、死亡及愛情問題。前十二行：通過描寫深秋的樹枝黃葉雕零，曾是百鳥爭鳴的歌壇，聯想到自身青春會如夕陽消逝在遠方，被黑夜吞沒；自身的青春會如將盡的柴火奄奄壹息，被曾滋養過它的火焰焚化。其中choirs（歌壇），deathbed（靈床）使用暗喻手法，同時又用夕陽和柴火象征人的衰老死亡。最後兩行：點題，人們對即將永別的東西會更珍惜。本文動詞變化具有明顯的伊利沙白時代的特點。
2． The Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed --- and gazed --- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
Ans then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Notes: a crowd, a host of: many sprightly:happy glee:joy
jocund:happy bliss:complete happiness pensive:sadly thoughtful
華茲華斯（William Wordsworth，1770-1850），十九世紀初英格蘭北部湖區三大“湖畔派詩人”（浪漫主義）之壹。此詩向我們描繪了壹幅美好的自然景象，同時抒發作者對自然美景的喜歡。黃水仙據說是威爾士國花（1282年，威爾士歸順英格蘭，被封公國），在英國廣泛栽種，春季開花，花期不長。有許多關於黃水仙的詩歌，這首詩無疑是脫穎而出的。
全詩語言精煉，通俗易懂，四音步抑揚格，分四節（stanza），每節6行，每節押韻均為ababcc。
第壹節寫詩人孤寂時外出散步，偶遇水仙；第二節寫水仙爭相開放，千姿百態；第三節，詩人看到這景象感到欣喜異常；第四節寫詩人在日後憂郁時，回想當時情景，又讓他心中充滿了歡樂，隨著水仙跳起舞來。
3. Song of Myself
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I learn and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten.
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard.
Nature without check with original energy.
Notes: a spear of: a piece of school:學說，流派 hazard:chance
abeyance: the condition of not being in use for a certain time
惠特曼（Walt Whitman,1819-1892），美國詩人。此詩選自其巨著<<草葉集>>。本文是Song of Myself 壹詩的第壹部分，采用自由詩體，語言接近當時的美國口語。
文中I指作者，you指讀者，這種寫法使讀者身臨其境，進入作者描寫的世界。作者在文中表明人的價值是平等的，同時他把自己融入到自然帶給他的啟發思考中。
從上看出，詩歌的欣賞評判並非可望而不可及，關鍵要抓住詩中的意象，了解其語義，以便把握詩的大意。縱然每個人的讀後感會有不同，但每個人都會在閱讀過程中感受到詩歌帶來的美和精神上的***鳴。