Ballade
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2008-07-10T08:29:35Z
Paul A
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/80.80.161.138|80.80.161.138]] ([[User talk:80.80.161.138|talk]]) to last version by 86.4.200.143
{{Otheruses4|the poetry form|other types of ballades and ballads|Ballade (disambiguation)}}
The '''ballade''' ({{pronEng|bəˈlɑːd}}; not to be confused with the [[ballad]]) is a [[Verse (poetry)|verse]] form typically consisting of three eight-line [[stanza]]s, 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 [[France|French]] poetry of the [[14th century|14th]] and [[15th century|15th centuries]]. One of the most notable writers of ballades was [[François Villon]]. In [[Rostand|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 poets than for French. [[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]
[[Category:Poetic form]]
[[Category:Folk music]]
[[Category:Musical forms]]
[[Category:Medieval music]]
[[Category:Renaissance music]]
[[Category:French poetry]]
[[cs:Balada (hudba)]]
[[ka:ბალადა]]
[[ja:バラード]]
[[pl:Ballada (muzyka)]]
[[simple:Ballade]]
[[yi:באלאדע]]