Ballad Writing Assignment


The popular ballad... is a narrative poem without any known author or any marks of individual authorship such as sentiment and reflection, meant, in the first instance, for singing, and connected, as its name implies, with the communal dance, but submitted to a process of oral tradition among people free from literary influences and fairly homogeneous. Conditions favourable to the making of such poetry ceased to be general after the fifteenth century; and, while it was both composed and preserved in isolated rural communities long after that date, the instinct which producted it and the habit which handed it down by word of mouth were, alike, a heritage of the past. (The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume II. The End of the Middle Ages.XVII. Ballads.)

Directions:

 

 1.    Choose a painting that evokes a powerful response from you. (Ballad Prompts)

 2.    Make up a story about a specific person in a specific situation which is somehow related to your painting.

3.    Use the ballad form to tell your story:

 

-         Use four line verses (quatrains)

-         Use a driving, repetitive rhythm (iambic)

-         Rhyme the line endings if you wish (ABAB/)

-         Write your poem in dialect if you wish. Choose interesting, unique words to throw into your poem.

-         Use repetition to create a hypnotic quality; repeat whole lines if you wish.

-         The music of your poem should reflect the mood of your painting.