Ballad Poetry

The Ballad

A ballad is a narrative poem that was traditionally meant to be sung. Remember that a narrative poem tells a story, so a ballad is a poem with a plot. Ballads are fixed form poems which mean they have a certain stanza structure and rhyme scheme in order to create rhythm. Many recording artists have songs that fall under the category of a ballad even though the songs might not have the exact structure as the formal poetic ballad. Ballads often (but not always) have the following characteristics:

View the video below to learn all about the ballad:

Ballads Self-Assessment

After learning more about the ballads, practice your comprehension here:

Reading Ballads

Now that you understand how to analyze poetry and you know the characteristics of the ballad, click here to read the ballads and use the TPCASTT method of analysis to break down the deeper meanings of the ballads. Links to an external site.

On your own paper, practice the TPCASTT method to analyze each of the sonnets in this lesson in order to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying meanings and themes.
When reading poetry, remember that you want to understand the various figurative language elements in order to understand the deeper meaning of the poem and determine the theme, or main idea, of the poem.

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