The unquiet grave ballad analysis

Genres Portfolio: BALLAD Assignment (10 points)

Assignment: Write a ballad, at least eight stanzas long, using one of the traditional formats discussed below.

Conventions: Ballads are narrative poems, like the epic, but most are much shorter. They have roots in oral traditions in which they were (and still are) recited or sung. Folk ballads are typically anonymous, while literary ballads are a written form where a poet emulates the folk sources (Gwynn 436).

Topic-wise, there are some common traditional themes for ballads: the anthology Traditional British Ballads (Ed. Bartlett Jere Whiting. New York: Appleton-Century, 1955) sorts them as Romantic, Tragic, Historical, Outlaw, Supernatural, or Humorous. That source describes the general rules for the ballad as follows:

It is plain in diction and imagery, it tells an elemental story of universal appeal, it concentrates on a single incident, it is sparing of explanatory details and background, it often begins in medias rez, it employs abrupt transitions, it makes free use of dialogue and calculated repetition, its emphasis is on action rather than reflection, it is associated with a tune which is often more stable than its text, and it tells its tale impersonally without author’s asides or editorial comment. (vii)

Another source notes that the oldest ballads in English come from borderland areas where people were isolated, life was difficult, and the environment bleak:

Fairies, witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings were believed to be alive and operating in this culture. Many of the ballads tell stories about fatal relationships: between lovers, between family members, between clans, or between people and these supernatural beings. Just as sensational or “bad” news gets the most attention in our newspapers and on TV today, so the most tragic and strange stories of that time inspired the making of ballads. For ballads are a way of communicating the strong feelings provoked by such dramatic human events. (Padgett 17)

Some ballads have refrains that are repeated in every line, or a stanza which is repeated between verses as a chorus. Horstein, et. al., writes that ballads are

striking for their great compression, abrupt transitions, and dramatic contrasts. Cumulative effect is achieved by incremental repetition (of phrases or whole lines) and by refrains, either a line repeated at the end of each stanza or a separate stanza. Frequently the ballad is a dialogue with the “he said” omitted. The form often relies on conventional figures of speech and descriptive clichés, but the best ballads are vivid and concrete. Although they deal with strong passions, ballads are usually objective and impersonal and devote little attention to character analysis, setting, or moralizing. (50)

The examples in our text are all in the British form, based on the English quatrain, being composed of “four-line stanzas; lines 1 and 3 have four beats; lines 2 and 4 have three beats and rhyme” (Padgett 17); meanwhile, “there is variation in the number of unstressed syllables” (Harmon and Holman 50). “The Unquiet Grave” uses a syllabic pattern of 8 syllables in lines 1 and 3 and 6 syllables in lines 2 and 4; “Bonny Barbara Allen,” by contrast, seems to vary the syllable-counts with each stanza. “Wee Messgrove” holds tight to six syllables in lines 2 and 4 but varies the counts of lines 1 and 3.

· “Bonny Barbara Allen” (Gwynn 471-2) Compare this version to a modern rendering of it like Pete Seeger’s on YouTube.com.

· “Sir Patrick Spens” (472-4)

· Robert Burns, “John Barleycorn” (514)

· Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci” (535)

· Marilyn Nelson, “The Ballad of Aunt Geneva” (754 )

· “The Unquiet Grave” (handout)

· “Wee Messgrove” (handout)

· “Tom Dula” (handout)

· “John Henry” (handout)

· “Scarborough Fair” (handout)

· “Sinking in the Lonesome Sea” (handout)

Guide:

Your ballad needs to tell a simple story. The story can be romantic, tragic, historical, outlaw, supernatural, or humorous.

Refrain options include (1) lines that are repeated in every stanza as the second and fourth line (e.g. “Scarborough Fair”), (2) the last line repeated (e.g. “John Henry”), or (3) a stanza which is repeated between verses as a chorus. Or, you may omit refrains.

Refrains aside, there are two basic ways to negotiate this stanzas:

English Ballad Pattern: abcb

Line 1: four beats

Line 2: three beats (rhyme with line 4)

Line 3: four beats

Line 4: three beats (rhyme with line 2)

“Beats” here are stressed syllables; the unstressed syllables in all four lines may vary

You can also count out syllabic lines as follows:

The Pattern I followed in “The Seduction of Edith”

Line 1: eight syllables

Line 2: six syllables

Line 3: eight syllables

Line 4: six syllables

Works Cited

Gwynn, R.S., ed. Literature: A Pocket Anthology. 5th ed. Boston: Longman, 2012, 2009. Print.

Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman,eds. A Handbook to Literature. 7th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice

Hall, 1996. Print.

Hornstein, Lillian Herlands, G.D. Percy, and Sterling A. Brown, eds. The Reader’s Companion to World Literature. 2nd

Ed. New York: Mentor, 1973. Print.

Padgett, Ron, ed. The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative,

1987. Print.