Task 10: A ballad

A ballad is a type of poem which tells a simple story, often with a mixture of action and dialogue, according to a strong and catchy rhythm and rhyme. Ballads often have a refrain (or chorus) and are often set to music.

For your summer holiday task, I would like you to write me a BALLAD.

First of all, you need to think of a simple story. It can be one you know already, or you can make it up - but just don't make it too complicated.

Now you can write the ballad. I would like it to be five quatrains (i.e. four-line stanzas) in length, according to the following rhythm and rhyme:

Each stanza should adhere to a strict and strong RHYME:

• Stanza 1 = abcb
• Stanza 2 = defe
• Stanza 3 = ghih
• Stanza 4 = jklk
• Stanza 5 = mnon

Each stanza should follow the following RHYTHM:

• Line 1: (U)U/UU/UU/U
• Line 2: (U)U/UU/UU/
• Line 3: (U)U/UU/UU/UU/
• Line 4: (U)U/UU/UU/

(Notice how, in each line, the first unstressed syllable is optional.)

Before starting to write the poem, you must try to get this rhythm INTO YOUR BRAIN so deeply that it is irritating and annoying beyond belief.

• dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee
• dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum
• dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum
• dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum dee-dee-dum

Keep saying this - aloud and in your head - until it is like one of those annoying advertising jingles that you can't get rid of however hard you try.

If you are musically trained, think of this rhythm as being 3/4; if you are more of a dancer, think of this like a waltz.

Now look at my two attempts...

The first is a rather weird story about a world overcome by hate which is saved at the very end by the love of a young child. I guess it could have religious significance (i.e. you could read the son as Christ-like), but I don't think I intended that at the time. You could also read the first four stanzas as being BEFORE the birth, with him only actually BORN in stanza five.

To be honest, I didn't really have a clear idea when I started. I thought of the opening couplet and took it from there - with the rhythm and rhyme as my guide throughout. Here it is:

The Ballad of Love and Hate

He was born to a mother who loved him,
But a father who wished he was dead,
In a land where to love was a capital crime -
So she sheltered him under her bed.

He was fed under cover of darkness,
And she weaned him in stygian* gloom.
He first started to crawl in caliginous* night;
His first steps trod a tenebrous* room.

She locked all the doors when she kissed him,
And in secrecy cuddled him tight.
While the armies of hate drove the sun from the sky,
She cocooned her small casket of light.

Then one day when the land choked in shadow
And all hope had been vanquished by hate,
She looked deep in the flame of his eyes and she knew
He could no longer fend off his fate.

And without any word to his mother,
He stood and emerged from his womb,
And he razed the battalions of hate to the ground
With a love that no force could consume.

* You can see that I've been busy with my thesaurus here, to find synonyms for 'dark'. I wanted to stress the extent of the darkness in this stanza, and so I needed as many words as possible to express this. However, whenever you use a thesaurus, ALWAYS check the new words in a dictionary before you use them, just to make sure they mean what you want them to.

For my second attempt, I decided to start with something far simpler and more mundane: FOOTBALL. I thought of the idea of an arrogant, vain football star who was put on the substitute bench for the first time, causing him so much shame and distress that he loses control. He beats up his coach, scares the rest of the team from the field, and then steals the ball before running away altogether.

I guess it is an exercise in the sort of immense egomania that celebrity status can breed - and the difficulty which comes when fame fades. And, again, it was the rhythm and rhyme which controlled me throughout:

The Ballad of the Footballer's Revenge

He believed he had feet made of magic,
As he conjured the ball in the goal,
But to find himself here on the substitute bench
Spawned a sorrow too sad to console.

"Tell me why did the coach choose to drop me?
And why didn't my teammates protest?
I cannot understand how they think they can cope
When the world knows that I am the best."

He detested the role of spectator;
He was destined to play not to watch.
So he leapt from the bench, knocked his coach to the ground
And then booted him hard in the crotch.

"That'll teach you to dare to ignore me!
Don't you realise what you have done?
I refuse to be kept from the beautiful game:
I am going to join in the fun."

As he charged for the ball, all the players
Were so scared that they fled to the stands.
Then he ran from the ground, disappearing from sight,
With the muddy ball safe in his hands.

Right. Now it's your turn. See what you come up with. And I am kind of HOPING that some of you will choose to produce more than one. After your first attempt, why not come back a week or so later and try a totally different one. You should find it easier with each attempt - and you should find they get better and better too! You could also experiment with a chorus/refrain in one of your attempts too if you wanted to.

Good luck! (And have fun!)