Poetry is a treasure in the treasure house of literature. Poets, with their own talents, combine content and form to create poems in the language of music, which is the swan song of the world. Good poems praise truth, goodness and beauty and cultivate people's sentiments. Poetry challenges the limits of content and form, and cultivating readers' reading comprehension ability with poetry can undoubtedly achieve unexpected results. Zhu Guangqian, a master of aesthetics, once said that poetry is the essence of literature, all pure literature has the characteristics of poetry, and good art is poetry. He repeatedly stated that if you want to cultivate pure literary interest, it is best to start with poetry; If you can appreciate poetry, you can naturally appreciate novels, plays and other kinds of literature. He believes that "learning poetry is the best introductory training for learning general literature. It is not difficult to find ways in poetry and further study other kinds of literature. " According to the master's own experience, the study of poetry is not the ultimate training of language and literature, but the necessary training for beginners.
The above conclusions of the master are aimed at China learners, but they are also applicable to English learners. For English learners, poetry learning is of great benefit to improving their English level. English poetry embodies the basic features of English. Mastering the phonological characteristics of English poetry, that is, the rhythm formed by stress and unstressed (corresponding to the level tone of Chinese), is the key to mastering language listening and speaking. Reading English poems and understanding their basic features can cultivate English language sense. Just as children in China recite "300 Tang Poems" at the beginning of Chinese education, children who learn English learn English poems from an early age, which will exert a subtle influence on their future literary appreciation.