The Ballad, better known as Lord Durango's Saga

Friday was about feet, and our growing identification of stressed and unstressed syllables in writing. Poetry, at least those featuring a recognizable meter, uses emphasis of sounds to further the meaning and the expression of ideas. Even if you meter is not a strong suit, you can still look for patterns of sounds and whether lines follow a pattern. I always count syllables first -- if three lines have the same syllable number, you probably have a metrical pattern in there. If the last syllable/word is emphasized, or stressed, you might have an iamb, a spondee, or an anapest. If you notice the heartbeat pattern, the up and down of unstressed and stressed, you have an iamb.

To add to our structural emphasis, we looked at meter and its form: monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, ooctameter, nonometer (nanometer).

We moved from beyond the steady, simple end rhyme to masculine, feminine, and internal rhyme.

We studied the ballad by reading, and sometimes falling into Scottish accents, "Bonny Barbara Allan," "Lord Randall," and " Get Up and Bar the Door." Bonny Barbara referencing the "universal theme" of dying for love, which seems quite cliched and ridiculous according to some readers. Lord Durango, the best name of the possible options given, dealing with a parent who will not let him go to bed without third degree interrogation. Goodman and Goodwife modeling poor relationship communication from their stubborn determination to win the silent game. As mentioned in the packet, the ballad exhibits characters, a narrative structure, dialogue, repetitive phrasing, and often a refrain to tie together the text.

For tonight's homework, read and complete the lyric and the ode sections of the poetry packet. We will chat about the given poems, and we will read more examples to help you see these poetry types in action.

Tomorrow should also be some Keats loving time with Shelley's elegy to the late, stunningly beautiful man. (Don't believe me -- here is an article dedicated to Keats: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/2016/08/18/picturing-john-keats/)