Poetry Exercise No. 12: The Ballad

We are now on to ballads. 4-beat and 3-beat lines alternating. It is a fairly loose form - with either 4 or 6 lines per verse, ABAB or ABCB rhyming pattern. Doesn't need to be strict tetra/trimeter, as long as the rhythm holds.

Apparently ballads have rather "low", folk origins. Fry describes it as " pub poetry... it can be macabre, brutal, sinister, preachy, ghostly, doom-laden, lurid, erotic, mock-solemn, facetious, pious or obscene....". I was reading my copy of "Everyman's Book of Evergreen Verse" to find some examples and certainly W.S. Gilbert's "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell" fits the bill. Its main feature is the refrain:

O, I am a cook and a captain bold
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight and a midshipmite
And the crew of the captain's gig.

And for those who do not know this poem, all that needs to be said is that it is a tale about cannibalism on the high seas. The whole poem can be found here (not copying it in here as this is already going to be a long post as it is). It is a fun, rollicking poem and has got a great rhythm and swing to it. Guess that is what a ballad is all about.


Ok, now for the confession. There is an exercise. We're meant to complete a ballad with the first two verses as composed by Fry:

Now gather round and let me tell
The tale of Danny Wise;
And how his sweet wife Annabelle
Did suck out both his eyes.

And if I tell the story true
And if I tell it clear
There's not a mortal one of you
Won't shriek in mortal fear.

What can I say? I must admit that this little attempt does not spark off anything in me. It is difficult enough as it is to think of a story as to why a wife would suck out her husband's eyes (beyond the obvious). I did think of an allusion to Neil Gaiman's Corinthian (a nightmare with an eye fetish) but discarded that as I felt Annabelle deserved something better. In the end I was inspired by the latest season of "Heroes" although I have tried to vary the talent in this case.

And so the poem continues:

Now Danny ever as a lad
Had eyes so sharp and bright,
That they could spot the tiniest speck
And pierce the darkest night.

One day Danny went to the fair
Some fake CDs to sell,
And who should he see standing there
But our sweet Annabelle.

Danny took one look at her and
Completely lost his heart;
And Annabelle she glanced at Dan
- And loved him from the start.

So they married, our happy pair
And built a happy home.
But that's not all, else there would be
An end to this bad poem.

For Danny's sight grew sharper still
Super vision then had he!
Eyes which could burn through wood and stone
And all that he could see.

For Danny couldn't control his gift
In fact it was a curse;
All that he saw he set aflame
And it was getting worse.

At last he asked sweet Annabelle
To save him from his pain;
To find a way for him to lose
The gift that was his bane.

Annabelle tried all that she could -
Toiling night and day
But everything that she tried failed
Until t'was one last way

So now I've come to the end of
The tale of Danny Wise;
And how his sweet wife Annabelle
Did suck out both his eyes.

I know. It stinks. But what to do. Remember - it's just an exercise!