A ballad about ballads

[eveglass]

I once wrote a sonnet about writing sonnets. In that tradition, I present to you my latest piece, a ballad about writing ballads:


A ballad isn't hard to write,
No matter what you say;
Just listen to the rules you hear,
And you'll be on your way.

Now every stanza has four lines
Of alternating size,
It's "four and three" and "four and three,"
If you would take the prize.

"But what are 'four and three'?" you ask,
Well, that's iambic feet,
Now don't be scared! It only means,
"Da DUM" will be your beat.

There's one more thing you need to know,
That's where your rhymes should be.
Lines two and four must share a sound,
But not lines one and three.

Now you can write in ballad verse
And it'll come out fine.
So don't be nervous, don't be scared,
It can't be worse than mine!


by Katherine Ashewode (2008)


Comments welcome, as always. Incidentally, sonnets and ballads (and, I suppose, simple rhyming couplets) are about all I write. If someone could direct me to a site with period poetry forms and their associated rules, I'll take a stab at writing "poems about poems" for them, too.