Ballade Handout
“The French forms have been generally considered much more demanding of the English-speaking poet than forms such as sonnets and ballads.” – Judith Barrington
The Ballade
(“bah-LAHD”)
Introduction
1. The term Ballade stems from the Latin word “ballare “ which means to dance.
2. Ballades grew out of the songs of the French troubadours
3. The ballade is considered “the most important of the OF fixed forms and the dominant verseform of OF poetry in the 14th and 15th cs” (Brogan 24).
4. Poets such as Christine de Pisan, Charles d’Orleans, and Guillaume de Machaut help to solidify the ballade as a French form; however, François Villon is considered “the master of the form” (Padgett 21).
Ballade Structure
1. There are a number of variations of the ballade (ballade supreme, double ballade, double ballade supreme, and double refrain ballade). However, “the most common shape the ballade takes is that of three stanzas, followed by an envoi (a short final stanza) that addresses an important person and sums up the point of the poem. The number of lines in the envoi is always half the number of lines of one of the stanzas” (Padgett 21).
2. Typically the Ballade is organized into octaves (eight line stanzas). The rhyme scheme for these octaves as well as the envoi is quite strict, with the last line of each octave serving as a refrain. The rhyme scheme is typically: ababbcbC. (the capital “C” referring to the refrain) and the envoi: bcbC
3. “No rhyme can be repeated even if spelled differently: the rhyming syllable must be different in sound (thus “see” and “sea” are not allowed)” (Barrington 181)
4. Bearing that in mind, the overall rhyme scheme for the ballade is ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC
5. The envoi typically begins with a direct address, traditionally beginning with an address to the “‘Prince,’ derived from the medieval literary competition at which the presiding judge was so addressed, forms the climatic summation of the poem” (Brogan 25).
“The difficulty with
The Ballade
(“bah-LAHD”)
Introduction
1. The term Ballade stems from the Latin word “ballare “ which means to dance.
2. Ballades grew out of the songs of the French troubadours
3. The ballade is considered “the most important of the OF fixed forms and the dominant verseform of OF poetry in the 14th and 15th cs” (Brogan 24).
4. Poets such as Christine de Pisan, Charles d’Orleans, and Guillaume de Machaut help to solidify the ballade as a French form; however, François Villon is considered “the master of the form” (Padgett 21).
Ballade Structure
1. There are a number of variations of the ballade (ballade supreme, double ballade, double ballade supreme, and double refrain ballade). However, “the most common shape the ballade takes is that of three stanzas, followed by an envoi (a short final stanza) that addresses an important person and sums up the point of the poem. The number of lines in the envoi is always half the number of lines of one of the stanzas” (Padgett 21).
2. Typically the Ballade is organized into octaves (eight line stanzas). The rhyme scheme for these octaves as well as the envoi is quite strict, with the last line of each octave serving as a refrain. The rhyme scheme is typically: ababbcbC. (the capital “C” referring to the refrain) and the envoi: bcbC
3. “No rhyme can be repeated even if spelled differently: the rhyming syllable must be different in sound (thus “see” and “sea” are not allowed)” (Barrington 181)
4. Bearing that in mind, the overall rhyme scheme for the ballade is ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC
5. The envoi typically begins with a direct address, traditionally beginning with an address to the “‘Prince,’ derived from the medieval literary competition at which the presiding judge was so addressed, forms the climatic summation of the poem” (Brogan 25).
“The difficulty with