How to Write a Ballad
A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story with a songlike quality. Traditionally oral, ballads use simple language, repetition, and strong rhythms to carry dramatic tales of love, death, and adventure.
Ballad Meter
The classic ballad stanza alternates lines of iambic tetrameter (4 beats) and iambic trimeter (3 beats), rhyming ABAB or ABCB. This “common meter” gives ballads their characteristic swing.
Famous Ballads
- “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats
- “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe