Ballad Poetry

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Ballad Poetry
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Gilligans Island

• Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A
  tale of a fateful trip That started from this
  tropic port Aboard this tiny ship. The mate
  was a mighty sailing man, The skipper brave and
  sure. Five passengers set sail that day For a
  three hour tour, a three hour tour. The weather
  started getting rough, The tiny ship was tossed,
  If not for the courage of the fearless crew The
  minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost.

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Gilligans Grace or Amazing Gilligan?

• Amazing Grace how sweet the sound
• That saved a wretch like me.
• I once was lost but now am found,
• Was blind but now I see.

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Formula for a Ballad

• Stanzas are Four Lines Long
• The Second and the Fourth Lines Rhyme.
• The First and Third Lines have the same number of
  syllables. The Second and Fourth Lines have the
  same number of Syllables.
• The Second and Fourth Lines have two less
  syllables than the First and Third Lines.

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The Formula Sounds Like This

• A ballad stanza in a poem (8 syllables)has
  lines as long as these. (6 syllables)In
  measuring the lines we find (8 syllables)we get
  both fours and threes. (6 syllables)
• In each line, every other syllable is emphasized,
  creating that catchy da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM
  rhythm

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Syllable Stresses

• In each line, every other syllable is emphasized,
  creating that catchy da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM
  rhythm
• A bal/lad stan/za in/ a poem has lines/ as
  long/ as these. In meas/ur ing/ the lines/ we
  find we get/ both fours/ and threes.

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Green Eggs and Ham

• I do not like themin a house.I do not like
  themwith a mouse. I do not like themhere or
  there. I do not like themanywhere. I do not
  like green eggs and ham.I do not like them,
  Sam-I-am.

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The Night Before Christmas

• 'Twas the night before Christmas,
• when all through the house
• Not a creature was stirring,
• not even a mouse
• The stockings were hung
• by the chimney with care,
• In hopes that St. Nicholas
• soon would be there
• The children were nestled
• all snug in their beds,
• While visions of sugar-plums
• danced in their heads

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A few notes on Ballads

• Pop Music Ballads are not the same thing
• One of the oldest forms of poetry
• A narrative form of poetry (tells a story)
• Stories can deal with sharp conflicts and deep
  human emotions or the funny side of life
• Everyday people are generally the focus
• Common themes of the past tragic love or
  physical courage
• The story is told indirectly, meaning you (the
  reader) have to fill in details from what the
  words suggest.

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A closer look at Ballads

• The Uncanny Wife
• Get Up and Bar the Door
• The Dash

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The Ballad of Lutheran High School

• Your assignment Option 1 write 3 ballad stanzas
  about our own school and put them together into
  "The Ballad of Lutheran High."
• Subject matter classes
• School events sports games, drama, lunch,
  chapel, CAP, forensics, Student Council, dances,
  etc.
• Personalities teachers, staff, coaches (be kind
  because these will be published on the faculty
  lunch table)
• If you are insulting, cutting, rude, crude or
  deemed otherwise socially unacceptable, you fail
  this assignment. Would you let your parents,
  pastor and principal read what you wrote?

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Option 2

• Create your own 3 stanza (or more) story using
  the ballad formula.
• Consider telling a plotline to a famous movie in
  ballad format.
• Turn your own life story into a dramatic ballad.