1. Songs & Poetry?

2. What Makes a Good Song? I will now play a few songs to the class.
Listen to the music and write down a few personal reactions you have to it.
Be specific in your responses. Your reactions can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Once finished share your reactions.
Listen to This….
OutKast -- Hey Ya lyrics -
KoRn~Freak on A Leash (clean single edit version -
Frank Sinatra-Blue Skies(+Lyrics) -
Aqua - Barbie Girl -

3. Homework – Present your song
Your homework assignment was to find in a song that you strongly like or dislike. Present your song by:
Stating the song title and artist
Provide a transcription or print-out of the song lyrics
Play the song in either an audio file, CD, youtube, etc…
Prepared short oral explanation of the
song’s message and
a personal opinion about the song.
Song must be school appropriate!

4. Songs & Poetry
After listening to some current music, discuss the following questions (see handout):
What does this music have anything to do with English class?
What do you notice about the reactions people have to this particular song?
Might the reactions be different if the song was about something else? Or if it was Slower/Faster/ Louder/Softer?
What does the author/artist have to do with the song? Did he/she write the words? How does this affect your opinion about the music?
Do these song lyrics or these songs, remind anyone of a poem? Why or why not?
How does rhyme and symbols enhance meaning in a poem and can help someone create a powerful song lyric?

5. Watch This!
Music as Poetry by Shmoop (2:48mins)

6. Ballads

7. Ballads
A narrative poem with a song-like form that usually tells of a love story, historical event, or heroic tale.
Two types of ballads:
Folk Ballad
Literary Ballad

8. Folk Ballads Folk Ballad:
The folk ballad is usually anonymous and the presentation impersonal.
It is orally transmitted and meant to be sung. It is also a popular form.
A song/narrative poem transmitted orally that tells a story
Focuses on one incident
Begins in the midst of a crisis
Proceeds to the resolution with little background information, character development, or descriptive detail

9. Early Ballads often included:
Tragic love
Domestic conflicts
Wars
Shipwrecks
Sensational crimes
Exploits of outlaws

10. Three dead sons visit mother for dinner
Just like today with tabloid headlines and Soap operas, certain forms of popular entertainment tended toward the sensational.
Plot Examples:
Three dead sons visit mother for dinner
A maiden is headed for the gallows, and her family refuses to help

11. Later ballads often included:
Historical events
Romantic heroes
These ballads were written toward end of the Middle Ages when English was accepted as a language of literary merit.

12. Structure Four lines per stanza
Second (2nd) and fourth (4th) lines rhyme and are often shorter than the first and third lines
(ABCB rhyme scheme)

13. Usual Formula Stock descriptive phrases
A word or phrase habitually used by a group of people:
a cliché
Example: blood-red wine
One less thing for the singer to remember
Refrain in each stanza (repetition)
Contributed to the song’s rhythm and reinforced its theme
Provided the singer with time to think of the next verse
Incremental repetition
A line or stanza is repeated, but with an addition that advances the story

14. Characteristics
Treats a highly dramatic situation in the simplest language
Uses a considerable amount of dialogue (sometimes local dialect)
Because ballads were well-known, the folk balladeer could often skip parts, which allowed him to develop parts that interested him. This accounts for the gaps in plots – “leaping and lingering”

15. continued Characteristics Ballads deal with:
Strong elemental passions of humanity
Powerfully depicted emotions: (love, hatred, faith, revenge, fear, courage, loyalty)
Many involve the supernatural
ended tragically

16. Literary Ballads
The literary ballad, unlike the folk ballad, is a sophisticated rather than a popular form. Unlike the anonymous, folk ballad, the literary ballad is a written composition by a single poet and it is meant to be read.
Key Points:
Work of known professional poets
These poets were so impressed by the vigor and emotion of the ballads that they imitated them.
Generally more sophisticated, subtle, and subjective― more psychological
Example: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

17. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)
It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. 'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din.'
He holds him with his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,' quoth he.
'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
He holds him with his glittering eye—
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
ABCB
For full version visit:

18. Ballads Rhythm & Rhyme
Some ballads can have the chorus built into each verse:
In these cases, the rhyme scheme is often AAB or ABAC (where the two-line chorus occupies the second and fourth lines, B and C, of each verse).
Lines that "go together" should have roughly the same number of syllables and accented syllables.
Note that it's not necessary to use three- or four-line verses and choruses. While this is the most common ballad form, occasionally you'll find a ballad with, say, 6 lines, or one with a varying number of lines per verse.
Note that there are cases where the rhythm or the cadence of the ballad is more important than the rhyme.
EXAMPLE: Stagger Lee Ballad AAB
“Gentlemen of the jury, what do you think of that?
Stagger Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat."
That bad man, oh, cruel Stagger Lee.
And all they gathered, hands way up high,
At twelve o'clock they killed him, they's all glad to see him die
That bad man, oh, cruel Stagger Lee

19. Stop and Think…
What is the role of a refrain or repeated phrase in a ballad?

20. "Someone Like You“ Adele
Modern Day
Ballad
Adele - Someone Like Youhttp://
I heard that you're settled down That you found a girl and you're married now. I heard that your dreams came true. Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you Old friend, why are you so shy? Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it. I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded That for me it isn't over Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me, I beg I remember you said, "Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead"
You know how the time flies Only yesterday was the time of our lives We were born and raised In a summer haze Bound by the surprise of our glory days
I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it. I'd hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded That for me it isn't over. Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me, I beg I remember you said, "Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."
Nothing compares No worries or cares Regrets and mistakes They are memories made. Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste? Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me, I beg I remember you said, "Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead." Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me, I beg I remember you said, "Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."
Very Varied!!