What is ballad

Third-person objective narration. The ballad is a poem that is typically arranged in quatrains with the rhyme scheme ABAB.

Ballads are usually narrative, which means they tell a story. Ballads began as folk songs and continue to be used today in modern music. Set in the England of King George III, the poem tells the story of a highwayman , or robber, who has fallen in love with Bess, an innkeeper's beautiful daughter. The core structure for a ballad is a quatrain, written in either abcb or abab rhyme schemes. The first and third lines are iambic tetrameter, with four beats per line; the second and fourth lines are in trimeter, with three beats per line.

Concrete , pattern, or shape poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry , a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own. Dramatic monologue. A poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader. An elegy is a sad poem , usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead.

Although a speech at a funeral is a eulogy, you might later compose an elegy to someone you have loved and lost to the grave. The purpose of this kind of poem is to express feelings rather than tell a story. Definition of Free Verse. English language ballads are typically composed of four-line stanzas that follow an ABCB rhyme scheme. Ballads are a type of formal verse , meaning that they tend to have both strict meter and a defined rhyme scheme.

For that reason, it's helpful to have a strong grasp of what meter and rhyme scheme are in order to understand ballads.

We provide more details about these terms on their own pages, but here's a quick guide:. Though the majority of ballads use iambs as their main foot , there is no specific meter required for a ballad.

This means that while one ballad might use common meter and many do , another ballad might use a different sort of meter. Generally speaking, ballads have a consistent meter throughout, so that a ballad in common meter will be common meter all the way through, while a ballad with another meter will use that meter all the way through.

However, even poems with consistent meter tend to have some mild variations on that meter within them, meaning that a ballad in iambic pentameter will likely contain occasional lines of eleven or more syllables that break the "ten syllables per line" rule of iambic pentameter.

The stanzas of a typical ballad follow the rhyme scheme "ABCB. The same ballad has a refrain of six lines that shows how the typical "ABCB" rhyme scheme can be modified for stanzas with more than four lines. Janet has kilted her green kirtle A little above her knee , And she has braided her yellow hair A little above her bree , And she's away to Carterhaugh As fast as she can hie. Note: "bree" means "brow," and "hie," means "go. The ballad as a musical and poetic form originated in Europe in the late middle ages—as early as the 14th century—when traveling minstrels popularized the form.

Since then, many writers have adapted the ballad to their own vision for new and original compositions. As a result, many different types of ballads exist. These variations can largely be broken up into three main categories that help define the evolution of the ballad:. The following examples of ballads show several types of variations of the form. To help highlight the structure of each example, we've highlighted all "A" rhymes in green , "B" rhymes in red , and "C" rhymes in yellow.

As is usually the case with traditional ballads, the author of this ballad is unknown because the lyrics have been passed down through oral tradition. Like other traditional ballads, "Barbara Allen" is often set to music. Her name was Barbara Allen. John Keats' ballad "La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" is a perfect example of the lyrical ballad's departure from the form of the traditional ballad. While this poem employs the ABCB rhyme scheme and refrain "O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms" that are typical of a traditional ballad, Keats' use of meter is unconventional for a ballad—particularly the short fourth lines of each stanza.

O what can ail thee, knight-at- arms , Alone and palely loitering? The sedge has withered from the lake , And no birds sing. O what can ail thee, knight-at- arms , So haggard and so woe- begone?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's long lyrical ballad " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner " employs many different types of meter, but the poem frequently uses common meter the alternation of iambic tetrameter with iambic trimeter , as in the second stanza below. Water, water, every where , And all the boards did shrink ; Water, water, every where , Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot — Oh Christ!

That ever this should be. Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs , Upon the slimy sea. Thanks a lot Sir Thanks FlourishAnyway for your continued interest and encouragement! I'm glad that you liked it. Have a blessed and sweet scented time!

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I am glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks for following me! Remain blessed. These last couple hubs have been well researched, not only informational but entertaining as well. Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. English Language Learners Definition of ballad.

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