Ballade Royal

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
French Verse

The Ballade Royal appears to be a variation of the Rhyme Royal, employing the same stanzaic form but with the last line of the first stanza repeated as a refrain in subsequent stanzas. It is a departure from the Ballade family of forms since it employs 7 line stanzas rather than octaves and in place of the standard shorter ballade envoy, the Ballade Royal employs a concluding stanza maintaining, the structure, meter, rhyme and refrain of the preceding stanzas.

The elements of the Ballade Royal are:

1. lyrical poetry that is flexible and can be written in the narrative or descriptive. It can also be written as a commentary or literary burlesque.
2. usually written in iambic pentameter but can be tetrameter.
3. stanzaic, written in four septets (7 line stanzas). The last septet takes the place of a shorter envoy employed in most ballades.
4. composed of a Sicilian tercet, rhymed aba, followed by a quatrain of 2 heroic couplets bbcc, the first of which interlocks with the triplet.
5. rhymed, ababbcC.
6. employs the last line of the first stanza as refrain in subsequent stanzas.

   Chaucer's Ballade of Good Counsel

   Thunder People by Barbara Hartman Young visitors have come to play night gambling games across the sky.                                    With white forked tongues they strike and flay Black Mountain's flank and aerie's eye. From cloud to cloud their arrows fly until clouds burst in cracking sound, now drumming wetness beats the ground. Boys roll boulders into the fray, with silver spears contestants vie. Sixteen wild horses squeal and neigh, bareback riders race to defy Wind People's taunting battle cry. Icy cannon balls bounce and pound, now drumming wetness beats the ground. Runners chase devil dogs away, their fleeting silhouettes supply a slide show's black and white display. Curly thunderheads prophesy that summer storms will multiply. Dense drops on metal roofs resound, now drumming wetness beats the ground. Shadowy figures stomp and sway, last line of dancers passes by, all leave before the east turns gray. Dark cloud blankets are hung to dry, Rainboy shakes out his robe on high. Cornfields, peach trees and ponds rebound, now drumming wetness beats the ground.

   A Rusty Knight, Moody Dreamer by Rex Allen Brewer Come rise with me, join me in flight, together roam passion's domain. The way I feel, please, make it right, my voice shouting, by love insane. Summer strolling, sunlight and rain. In quick water, mottled stones gleam, down the hill, a reluctant stream. Tonight, in twilight, our first fight, thunder pounds like a worried train, lightning flashes, clouds burning bright, my thought, what would the blaming gain? How much hurt can my love contain? Dashing madly, the rain must seem, down the hill, a reluctant stream. The starlight gone, a lover's slight, no quiver or wonder remain. Like falling from the mountain height, by love withdrawn, I'm reaping pain, weeping inside, a rough cut vein. Like tears chasing the moon's soft scream, down the hill, a reluctant stream. A lovers wage, this sordid plight, spirit weary, and addled brain. Slinking away, a rusty knight, I am done like a broken chain. My heart chilled, by my lover slain, water falling, a wasted dream, down the hill, a reluctant stream.