The Ballad of The Hall
Poetry Term Analysis
The boy stood by the classroom door
Andonomatopoeia
moaned with mortal woe
His next course was across the hall
And time had come to go!Internal rhyme
His nerves were shot and fear a knot
That tightened upApproximate
his breath
/ internal
But through the crush he had to push
Though it could mean hishyperbole
death!
But as he paused another thought
Did jerk him like a rein simile
His locker held a book he’d need alliteration
He staggered with the pain!
“I’ll go, I’ll run, I’ll carry on,” he
cried.
anaphora
“No fear shall conquer me!”
And out he plunged into the stream
Of kind humanity!
personification
It swallowed him and passed him on
In peristaltic wave
Then spewed him out against the wall
So broken, so disheveled, yet so
brave! polysyndeton
personification
He grabbed and dialed the hostile knob
And then, in pure frustration,
irony
His voice rang out, “Oh, Brother, I
Forgot my combination!”
Though kicked and hit and shoved about
In spite of his despair
He fumbled till the lock came free
And books spilled everywhere!
Then gathering both nerves and books
He dived back in the tide metaphor
Like Moses parting the Red Sea
He reached the other side! allusion
And, though in glory brief he stood,
alliteration
The fight was far from o’er.
Approximate
He knew that just one hour hence
He’d forge that horde once more!
assonance
Ballads are narrative poems,
meaning they tell a story.
They are often set to a tune, and
involved a sentimental character.
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham in
a Freedom March today?”
“No, baby, no, you may not go, for the
dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns, and jails
aren’t good for a little child.”
“But mother, I won’t be alone. Other
children will go with me,
And March the streets of Birmingham
to make our country free.’
“No, baby, no, you may not go for I
fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead and
sing in the children’s choir.”
She combed and brushed her nightdark hair, and bathed in rose petal
sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small
brown hands, and white shoes on her
feet.
The mother smiled to know that her
child was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile to
come upon her face.
For when she heard the explosion,
her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of
Birmingham calling for her child.
She clawed through bits of glass and
brick, and lifted out a shoe.
“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
but, baby, where are you?”
News Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMuWDsv5pg
Musical Ballad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHxG2b4rAlA
Assassination of the Romanov Family
Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island
Signing the Declaration of Independence
Trail of Tears
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Oklahoma Land Run
Boston Marathon Bombing
Tulsa Race Riot
OKC Bombing
Boston Tea Party
9/11 Terrorist Attacks
Boston Massacre
Any of the School Shootings
JFK Assassination
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Martin Luther King Assassination
Hurricane Katrina
Ford’s First Automobile
The First 4th of July
Wright Brother’s First Flight
First Man on the Moon
The Bubonic Plague (Black Death)
Sinking of the Titanic
The Ride of Paul Revere
Anne Frank’s Life/Capture
Oklahoma Dust Bowl
Votes For Women
Martin Luther King Freedom March
Columbus’ Discovery of America
Freeing Jews from Concentration Camp
 The
title
poem must have a
 The
characters in the
dialogue can be real
to the event or
fictitious.
Ex: “The Ballad of …”
 The
poem must be
written in the “aabb”
rhyme scheme.

 The

first 2 stanzas will
be written in two
person dialogue.
The last two stanzas
are written as a third
person narrator.
The last 2 stanzas
should describe the
event and outcome.
"Mother dear, may I go downtown
instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham In
a Freedom March today?”
1st stanza: person one
talking to person two
(Exposition)
"No, baby, no, you may not go, For the
dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child.”
2nd. Stanza: person two
responding to person one
(Rising Action)
The mother smiled to know that her
child was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile to come
upon her face.
3rd. Stanza: what happened
during the event
(Climax)
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of
Birmingham calling for her child.
4th. Stanza: What was the
final outcome of the event
(Falling Action / Resolution)