Writing Focus: Ballads

Ballads; the musical poetry of the world. These crafty little poems have been around for years, and have waxed and waned in popularity over the course of time. With a specific structure for you to follow, sometimes ballads can be the saving grace for the poets who want to spice things up a little bit.

What Is a Ballad?

A ballad is a poem which is often written to music. Originally being known as ‘dancing songs’, ballads were written for dances and as such, followed a very specific structure. Ballads are sometimes known as songs that tell stories, as the main feature of a ballad is a narrative-style story told through the guise of a song.

Ballad structure is usually focused around ballad stanzas, which are stanzas composed of four lines. The first and third lines usually hold 8 syllables each, with the second and fourth lines having 6 syllables each. These lines are written with the stress on every second syllable, giving the words a rhythm that can be danced along to and creating a dah-DUM style of reading.

Rhyme is also a major factor of a ballad, although oftentimes, ballad composers will use an ABCB rhyme scheme, rhyming only the second and fourth lines, although this is not as strict.

Tips

As ballads are often considered to be ‘folky’, they place heavy emphasis on the place where they originate. For instance, traditional Scottish ballads such as Tam Lin use a much more colloquial form of the English language than a ballad originating in central England or modern-day USA would. This gives you the freedom to go wild and show your culture — sneak in little bits about the place that you live!

There are no set subject matters when it comes to ballads, so you can go absolutely crazy. Want to write a ballad about the old woman that lives across the road? Go ahead! As long as your ballad tells a story, it can be comical, romantic, tragic or sentimental. The choice is yours!

Prompts

Want to try your hand at writing a ballad? Check out these prompts to help you along the way!

1. Think about the one thing that makes you happy. Write a ballad based around the reasons why it does so.
2. Take the object closest to your left hand and write a story in ballad form based upon that object.

Ballads are often a very underrated form of poetry, but when written correctly they can be a very good read. If you’re looking for a poetry style that works alongside music and gives you the free reign to write about anything under a strong structure, then ballad poetry is definitely worth trying.

Special thanks to losing control. and Audrey T for editing!