Ballade

Ballade

The ballade (pronEng|bəˈlɑːd; not to be confused with the ballad) is a verse form typically consisting of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza (an "envoi") usually addressed to a prince. The rhyme scheme is therefore usually 'ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC', where the capital 'C' is a refrain.

The ballade is particularly associated with French poetry of the 14th and 15th centuries. One of the most notable writers of ballades was François Villon. In Edmund Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (play), it is a ballade that Cyrano composes impromptu during a duel.

The many different rhyming words that are needed (the 'b' rhyme needs at least fourteen words) makes the form more difficult for English than for French poets. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in the form. It was revived in the 19th century by English-language poets including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Other notable English-language ballade writers are Andrew Lang and G. K. Chesterton (below). A humorous example is Wendy Cope's 'Proverbial Ballade'.

A Ballade of Theatricals by G. K. Chesterton (1912)

:Though all the critics' canons grow—:Far seedier than the actors' own—:Although the cottage-door's too low—:Although the fairy's twenty stone—:Although, just like the telephone,:She comes by wire and not by wings,:Though all the mechanism's known—:Believe me, there are real things.

:Yes, real people— even so—:Even in a theatre, truth is known,:Though the agnostic will not know,:And though the gnostic will not own,:There is a thing called skin and bone,:And many a man that struts and sings:Has been as stony-broke as stone…:Believe me, there are real things

:There is an hour when all men go;:An hour when man is all alone.:When idle minstrels in a row:Went down with all the bugles blown—:When brass and hymn and drum went down,:Down in death's throat with thunderings—:Ah, though the unreal things have grown,:Believe me, there are real things.

:Prince, though your hair is not your own:And half your face held on by strings,:And if you sat, you'd smash your throne—:Believe me, there are real things.

Variations

There are many variations to the ballade, and it is in many ways similar to the ode and chant royal. There are instances of a double ballade and double-refrain ballade. Some ballades have five stanzas; a ballade supreme has ten-line stanzas rhyming ababbccdcD, with the envoi ccdcD or ccdccD. An example is "Ballade des Pendus" by François Villon.

A seven-line ballade, or ballade royal, consists of four stanzas of rhyme royal, all using the same three rhymes, all ending in a refrain, without an envoi.

External links

* [http://www.fullbooks.com/Ballads-in-Blue-China-and-Verses-and.html 'Ballads in Blue China and Verses and Translations'] by Andrew Lang from [http://www.fullbooks.com Fullbooks.Com]


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  • ballade — BALLADE. s. f. (On ne prononce qu une L dans ce mot et les suivans.) Espàce d ancienne Poésie Françoise, composée de couplets faits sur les mêmes rimes, et qui finissent tous par le même vers. Voilà une jolie ballade. La ballade est composée de… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • ballade — Ballade. s. f. Espece d ancienne Poësie Françoise. Cet homme a fait une ballade. On appelle, Le refrein de la ballade, Le vers intercalaire qui revient à la fin de chaque couplet. On appelle dans l entretien ordinaire, Le refrein de la ballade,… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Ballade — »episch dramatisches Gedicht«: Das Wort wurde im 16. Jh. – zunächst in der Bed. »Tanzlied« – aus frz. ballade entlehnt, das seinerseits aus it. ballata stammt (zu it. ballare »tanzen«). Die seit dem 18. Jh. bezeugte heutige Bedeutung bildete sich …   Das Herkunftswörterbuch

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  • Ballade — Bal*lade , n. [See {Ballad}, n.] A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the whole poem with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ballāde — Ballāde, ursprünglich wohl ein Lied, mit Mimik vorgetragen; jetzt ein der Form nach lyrisches Gedicht mit epischem Stoffe, der meist der Volkssage entlehnt od. im Geiste derselben gedichtet ist. Am frühesten bestand die B. als Ballata bei den… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

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