Ballad v. Epic

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Ballad v. Epic

• Characteristics
• Ballad Types
• Modern Ballads

2
Epic

• Narrative poem
• Relates legends surrounding heroic or
  mythological people
• Origins in preliterate societies. Begin as oral
  traditions, passed down from generation to
  generation.
• Later integral parts of the first literate
  Western cultures (i.e. Ancient Greece)

3
Famous Epics

• Two poets to remember
• Homer (Greek)
• Virgil (Roman)
• Epic poems to remember
• The Iliad and The Odyssey (Homer)
• The Aeneid (Virgil)
• Gilgamesh (oldest surviving work of literature in
  world history 2100 B.C. 400 years older than
  the Torah, first five books of the Bible)

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Parts of an Epic

• Usually begins with a prayer to the muses for
  help
• Introduces author/storyteller
• Introduces the main character, usually giving
  some quick back-story on his struggles

5
Modern Epic

• Epic has come to refer to any lengthy text in
  our modern culture.
• Modern Epics
• Poetry (Paradise Lost John Milton
• Prose (War and Peace Leo Tolstoy)
• Film (Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson)
• Music (The Wall Pink Floyd

6
Ballad

• Narrative song
• Usually recounts
• Historical Events
• Folk legends
• Tragic events
• Often used as symbols for religious or political
  statements.

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Ballad form

• Usually short
• Consistent and simple rhyme (abab, abcb, aabb)
  and rhythm schemes (usually iamabic tetrameter or
  trimeter).
• Typically sung in the dialect of the groups
  represented in the ballad
• Usually has a chorus that is returned to often.

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Modern Ballad Assignment

• Read the lyrics to your ballad
• What historical event, fairy tale, hero story,
  and/or universal theme are at play in this song?
• Identify the rhyme and rhythm schemes.
• What vernacular words or phrases do you see in
  this piece? Circle them.
• What dialect/people group are represented in this
  ballad?
• Identify the chorus. Why is this information
  returned to over and over? What changes occur in
  the chorus as the song goes on? What do these
  changes emphasize?
• How does the music add to/detract from the
  storyline?

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More info

• Check out Wikipedias entries for
• Epic
• Ballad