Ballade

Ballade, not to be confused with a Ballad.

Pronouced:  bahl ODD, rhymes with God.

Ballade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballade

The ballade typically consists of three stanzas of 8 lines each, 

with a concluding 4-line envoi often addressed to a prince.

 The stanzas and envoi employ a refrain in the last line. 

The rhyme scheme is ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC. 

I found both tetrameter and pentameter poems, but no definition.

Example Poem

The Puppy

An only child I grew up free

of sibling squabbles, which was fine.

No nieces, nephews, there for me,

I was a lone leaf on the vine,

the end of this old family line.

I never felt my life flawed.

I found a puppy in decline.

A puppy was my gift from God.

I found the fellow by a tree,

abandoned, nestled by a pine.

We were then poor, but he was free!

I pledged to feed him food of mine.

The way we bonded seemed divine.

My mom and grandma were both awed.

The puppy never once did whine.

A puppy was my gift from God.

I taught the puppy where to pee.

He learned to sit with just a sign.

Where ever I was, there was he.

I nursed him 'til his eyes did shine

with life,  no more was he supine.

He slept with me;  he never gnawed.

He filled lonesome days with sunshine.

A puppy was my gift from God.

That puppy made my life benign.

Oh, Prince of Peace, men must applaud

the wonder of the grand design.

A puppy is a gift from God.

© Lawrencealot - April 22,2012

Related forms: Ballade, Ballade Stanza, Ballade Supreme, Double Ballade, Canzone II, Chanso, Double Ballade Supreme, Double Refrain Ballade, Double Refrain Ballade Supreme, Grand Ballade or Chant Royal.

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