25 How to Write a Ballad
“True popular ballads are the spontaneous products of nature.”
Let’s begin:
Consider the Ballad:
A ballad is a rhyming poem that tells a story in short stanzas. The form of a ballad varies from country to country. Ballads are poems of the people sung by the people. Keep it simple.
Traditionally, the English ballad is divided into quatrains (4 line stanzas) with a typical rhyme scheme being ABAB or ABCB. For the meter, the first and third line of the stanza is in iambic tetrameter, and the second and last line is iambic trimeter.
Iambic refers to the stress of the syllables. Every second syllable is accented. Tetrameter is a line pattern of four beats equaling 8 syllables. Trimeter, a line pattern of three beats equaling 6 syllables.
You can use this format when you write. However, you do not have to do so. You can just stick with the basics: Tell a short story in short stanzas and rhyme. So to rhyme, if you are using the ABAB rhyming pattern, every other word at the end of each line, sounds the same.
Here is a simple example:
Hear the fuzz buzz; there is a bee
O my way - way up high
Can you see her in the pine tree
Golden is her disguiseThink of Your Story:
When writing a ballad, you need a story to tell. It can be as simple or as grand a story as you would like to tell. It can be a story about you or someone or something else. Perhaps you have a family story? Something that has happened to you or someone in your family that you have heard or have told.
As you think of your story, you may want to use a graphic organizer to help you to organize your thoughts. This step and the elements I am suggesting here are not required for ballads; however, if you are new to writing ballads, you may find this organizer helpful. Click here to open the organizer. To use, just print the doc out or, make a copy and use it digitally.
Write
You may just want to write it out in prose first, being as detailed as you can. If you used the graphic organizer, pull ideas from that to integrate imagery and figurative language into your text. Then after you have it written down, render it into a poem by eliminating a third of the words in your story and creating a rhythm and rhyme.
Personally, I just start writing short lines and pay attention to the rhymes - I just let it flow.
Revise and rewrite:
When you come to a sense of completion, it’s time to review your work. Revise and rewrite if you feel you need to change anything. If you are trying to get the traditional meter, count the beats - 8, 6, 8, 6. Review your rhymes.
Edit:
After reviewing for needed changes, it always go to go over your work again. Correct any details in spelling and grammar that stand out to you.
Celebrate:
Reread your work when you finish writing, and enjoy it! The creative process and product is something to celebrate.
Share:
Make sure to share your ballad in the comments below! I would love to read it!
My Ballad
Ballad of a Butterfly
On a branch in the wood it hung
On a new spring morn, cold
A woven silken tent it strung
And so the story goes
And then there came a rustling
And then there came a stir
And out of the tent with a tussling
Mighty wings a blur
And here a flit and there a flit
And suddenly a flutter
And here a flap and there a flap
And then O- the color -
-the flight -is nigh
beautiful butterfly Questions
Have you ever written a ballad?
Would you like to write a ballad?
What would you like to write your ballad about?
What mood would you like to convey?