Thursday, 02 March 2023
THE BALLAD
STRUCTURE OF A BALLAD
• ABCB/ABAB rhyme scheme.
• 4 lines per stanza.
- Lines 1 and 3: 4 strong stresses.
- Lines 2 and 4: 3 strong stresses (for musician to breathe).
FEATURES OF A BALLAD
• Tells a story.
• Has di erent forms.
• Dramatic.
• Starts in the middle of a story.
• Condensed.
• Impersonal.
• Has supernatural elements.
• Stock phrases.
• Incremental repetition.
• Could have a refrain/chorus.
THE RENAISSANCE
• 14th cent - 17th cent.
• French for ‘rebirth’.
• Got its name bc people were interested in history and literature of ancient Rome
and Greece.
• Eg. Catullus (roman erotic poetry), Dante (the inferno), Petrarch (Dante’s
successor, invented Petrarchan/Italian sonnets.
SONNETS
• 14 lines of iambic pentameter.
1
ff
THE BALLAD
STRUCTURE OF A BALLAD
• ABCB/ABAB rhyme scheme.
• 4 lines per stanza.
- Lines 1 and 3: 4 strong stresses.
- Lines 2 and 4: 3 strong stresses (for musician to breathe).
FEATURES OF A BALLAD
• Tells a story.
• Has di erent forms.
• Dramatic.
• Starts in the middle of a story.
• Condensed.
• Impersonal.
• Has supernatural elements.
• Stock phrases.
• Incremental repetition.
• Could have a refrain/chorus.
THE RENAISSANCE
• 14th cent - 17th cent.
• French for ‘rebirth’.
• Got its name bc people were interested in history and literature of ancient Rome
and Greece.
• Eg. Catullus (roman erotic poetry), Dante (the inferno), Petrarch (Dante’s
successor, invented Petrarchan/Italian sonnets.
SONNETS
• 14 lines of iambic pentameter.
1
ff
