Poetry from Daily Life: For a ballad, pick a beat and pick a rhyme, then stick with it
Since Poetry from Daily Life began Nov. 5, you’ve met poets from Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. We began in one paper — the Springfield News-Leader — now we’re in at least four. I started with 36 poets and proponents standing by to contribute experience, wit, wisdom, and examples to the fledgling column, now I have more than 60, in the U.S., Canada, and England. We’re building a list of university leaders in schools of Education and English who will receive a link each week to the newest addition to Poetry from Daily Life and share it with their faculty and students. That’s encouraging growth in nine weeks. We’ve appreciated help from readers and contributors in finding papers to carry the column and college deans to share them on campus.
Today I want to talk about a form of verse (poetry with structure and usually rhyme) called a ballad stanza. A ballad tells a story in four lines or multiple stanzas of four lines each. Probably the most popular ballad form rhymes in lines two and four. In shorthand, it looks like this: abcb. Here’s an example from The Mouse was Out at Recess, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2003. “Mystery Lunch” has four accented syllables in lines one and three, and three accented syllables in lines two and four. In shorthand, it looks like this: 4/3/4/3.
Mystery Lunch
Brother fixed my lunch today,
I’ve no idea what’s in it,
But if he fixes it again,
Next time I hope he’ll skin it.
“Death of a Wasp” from The Alligator in the Closet, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2003, has four beats (accented syllables) per line, expressed as 4/4/4/4, and since lines one and four and lines two and three rhyme, it looks like this: abba. This is the first in a four-stanza ballad poem.
Death of a Wasp
Bumping at the windowpane,
She fought against the solid air
That held her as a prisoner there,
But all her struggles were in vain.
This next example has five beats per line (5/5/5/5). Lines one and four and lines two and three rhyme so it’s another abba rhyme scheme. “Things We Prize” is from Connecting Dots, Poems of My Journey, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2004.Here are the first two of a five-stanza ballad poem:
Things We Prize
Hidden in the mountains, fed by snow,
The lake was small. We stayed there every year
And got to know our neighbors camping near
In tents like toadstools growing in a row.
I found a secret pool, a little nook
Where I could lie and watch the fish below
But no amount of coaxing made them go
For worms, or bits of bacon on my hook.
If you decide to write some ballad stories, too, the main thing to remember is that once you pick a format — number of beats per line and which lines will rhyme — stick with them for each stanza in that poem.
David L. Harrison is the current Missouri Poet Laureate as well as Drury University Poet Laureate. His awards include the Christopher Medal and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children’s Literature Award. To learn more, visit his website at davidlharrison.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Poetry from Daily Life: How to write a ballad with a beat and a rhyme
