BALLADSTAKE NOTES!!!

Poetic Form

Learning Targets

Analyze characteristics of different forms of poetry - Ballads.

Analyze how meaning is conveyed in poetry through word choice, poetic devices (rhyme, rhythm, repetition, refrain) and figurative language.

TSWBAT recognize a ballad and be able to understand its meaning using various poetic devices.

Add these to your notes

Remember, it is your job to write these down on your iPad or in your notebook.

These will be on the final test for this unit.

You will be expected to know these terms.

Repetition

When an author repeats words, phrases, or lines several times throughout a line or a poem.

“Words, words, words…” (Shakespeare)

Refrain

A repeated phrase, line, or group of lines. Often used to build rhythm in a song or

poem. Used to provide emphasis or create

suspense. Sometimes the first and the last lines of

the poem or stanzas Like the “I have a dream” speech! Did you

know that is in poetic form?

What’s the difference?

Repetition can be anywhere in the poem and is sporadic. It may be in just one line or all over the place.

Refrain is usually at the beginning of the poem and then at the end, or it may be at the beginning of the stanza or the end of the stanza…but it isn’t mixed in all over the place like repetition.

Need to know! BalladsHow do I know it is a ballad? A ballad is a song or a songlike poem that

tells a story, usually about lost love, betrayal or death.

Ballads can be sad or funny. They include repetition and refrain. The rhythm usually makes it easy to sing

or read. Ballads usually are told orally and passed

down. The authors are usually unknown. Ballads are usually also narrative poems.

Remember…

Narrative Poems are poems that tell a story.

Ballads also can tell a story, but they have to have all the other elements in place as well.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

"According to a legend of the Chippewa tribe, the lake they once called Gitche Gumee 'never gives up her dead.'"

Thus began the Newsweek article in the issue of November 24, 1975. That lead inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write one of the greatest "story songs" ever.

Minnesota History! On November 10, 1975, an ore carrier - the

Edmund Fitzgerald - sank in Lake Superior during a November storm, taking the lives of all 29 crew members.

Later that month, Gordon Lightfoot, inspired by that article in Newsweek Magazine, wrote what is probably his most famous song: “Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”

Lightfoot’s song reached #2 on the Billboard charts.

Download-

Go to my website to get the lyrics to the song and open in Notability

Listen to the song, try to identify the elements that make it a ballad.

Mark up or annotate the lyrics as you read along.

We will listen a couple times.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald video and images Best video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8

bta-7aw

Others http://youtu.be/hgI8bta-7aw http://youtu.be/K6DUFPNILvM

Ballads…Take a picture if you need more timeUse complete sentences to answer.

1. What is the refrain of this song?

2. What details makes this song a ballad? (Which elements of a ballad does this match. List each one and give an example from the song!)

3. What object is being personified in the refrain?

4. How does the personification in the refrain help you understand what happened?

5. Lightfoot describes the lake as “the rooms of her ice-water mansion” to help develop the listener’s understanding of what has happened in the song. What device(s) (Look through your previous notes!) is this and what does it mean?

6. Listen to the rhythm of each line. What effect does the rhythm have on the song? (Hint: Been on a boat with big waves?)

Summarize

With a partner or by your self, summarize each STANZA with one or two sentences.

You must add this summary to your answers you completed.

Hand in your answers by emailing me H# Lastname Firstname Ballad