The Ballad Essay

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Frost further points out that the stretch of woods being viewed is very rural. This is made possible by the reference to the location between the woods and frozen lake. In closing the final sentence of the second stanza Frost reiterates the fact that this occurs on “the darkest evening of the year” stating the darkness of the mood.

Often, personal experiences are what influence a poet’s writing. Since the 1600s and up until World War One, poets have been heavily impacted by the glorification of war, as well as the catastrophic losses the world has suffered from. Poets such as Richard Lovelace and Lord Tennyson glorified the sacrifices soldiers made for their countries and honored them. While poets like Mary Borden and Wilfred Owen expressed their outrage towards war because they have witnessed the brutality and wickedness of it. In the two poetry collections, diction is the main factor in establishing the tone and theme of each poem.

For example, both poems have a theme of murder. Ballads normally have a sad or shocking story, so this is very common. In both poems the murderer is always hanged after murdering another person. In Charlotte Dymond, the murderer is her lover. In John Lomas, the murderer is John Lomas. The murder controls the ballads and there is no point in the ballads

Written in “Is This Song Your Song Anymore”, the relief problem in America had largely disappeared due to the advent of World War II and the jobs it created. Therefore, Guthrie may have dropped the verse referring to relief because it no longer had as much relevance to the current situation in America as when he first wrote it. Second, Guthrie often forgot or changed words, depending on his mood and memory.” (Jackson 260.) The song was a happy and cheerful version that put melody to the poem. Leaving out the last part in mainstream recordings and song singing in classrooms is now understandable because the reality is that America and social issues keep changing, so it is fitting for the song to change as well.

Poetry often uses sound to maintain a flow that keeps the reader interested and involved in a poem. Onomatopoeia is used in both “We Wear the Mask” and “Ballad of Birmingham” in one way and another. In the “Ballad of Birmingham,” alliteration is used when the consonant “W” is used in the line “her eyes grew wet and wild.” (26) In the same respect, “We Wear the Mask” states “But let the world dream otherwise/We wear the mask.”(14,15) The sound of the “W” is also repeated three times in these lines. Assonance is also a common sound used in both of the poems. In “Ballad of Birmingham,” the vowel “O” is repeated in the line “No, baby, no you cannot go.”(4,13) Also, the vowel “E” is repeated in the line “It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes”(2) in “We Wear the Mask.” The way in which a consonant or vowel is repeated brings a pleasing sound to the reader’s ear. The only major difference that the two poems contain is that in “Ballad of Birmingham,” the tone of the poem changes from a normal

3.) What is the genre of this work (what type of writing is it)? _________________________________________

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

Poets have written love poems for centuries with the first said to be around 1000BC. But what is love? It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘ to have attachment to and affection for’. However, after studying various love poems, I have found that love is portrayed in many different ways. It can be possessive, hateful and pure and the fact that William Shakespeare said ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’ suggests that love is more complicated than a simple dictionary definition.

In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, by Dudley Randall, many different things can be analyzed. The difference in the two translations; one being a literal translation, telling the true meaning of the poem, and the other being a thematic translation, which tells the author’s theme and symbolism used in his/her work. Another thing that all poets have in common is the usage of poetic devices; such as similes, metaphors, and personification.

In spite of its inception, it is keened that the British utilized the melody to fulminate Americans afore the Revolutionary War, tracing back to the French and Indian War. Shuckburgh was so regaled at the discernment of the soldiers that he fixated to make fun of them by mounting a couple of preposterous words into an English melody. “Yankee” attributes to the British soldiers. However, the inception of “Doodle” is undiscovered. The lyrics that were utilized pristinely isn’t kenned because of the fact that

The first type of genre is typography genre which consist of written form of discourse. It includes books, magazine, newspapers, websites, diaries, memorandums,

The voice subject refers to the speaker and the tone of the poem and it can be classified in two categories, lyric and narrative. A lyric poem expresses feelings and emotions of the speaker, it also often uses first person pronouns like I, me, we, ours, etc; sometimes the poem does not have pronouns but it is noticeable that it is a personal observation. An example of lyric poem is “I carry your heart with me” by e e cummings.

Ballad: Ballads are narrative poems that are supposed to be sung. The narrator usually starts a dramatic scene and relates the narrative with dialog and action.

Literature is not made up of just stories. Poems and songs can be attributed to literature. Poetry and songs, like the nursery rhymes of childhood, are also vital to a culture. Sometimes a story is told in the form of a poem or song. And sometimes a poem or song can be pure entertainment. However labeled in a culture, the poems and songs