Poems Set To Music .
1-] Hymns [
Religious Songs ] :
Hymns have
appeared in both rhymed and unrhymed qualitative verse , as well as in prose .
2-] Songs: Lyric poems meant to be
sung . Songs are typically short and emotional on topics that range from love
to hatred , dancing to mourning , work to play .
Some works
labelled as songs , however , can not actually be sung , such as “ The Love
Song of J . Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot .
Folk Songs : are those of unknown
authorship .
3-] Ballads : Narrative songs that may be sung or simply recited . The
ballad tradition can be found worldwide .
Characteristics
of the ballad :
1-] Theme : Courage or love . 2-] Little description
or characterization . 3-]
Incremental repetition [ repetition
of words , lines or phrases for effect ] .
Form of Ballad
The ballad
stanza : usually
iambic foot in four lines [ quatrain ]
with an aab rhyme scheme [ sometimes based on approximate rhyme or assonance
and consonance ].
--Lines 1 and 3 have four accented syllables : lines 2 and 4 have three
accented syllables .
- Use of
refrain [ repetition of words , phrases or lines at intervals ] .
- Sometimes
has a concluding or summary stanza .
- Stock
descriptive phrases .
Types of
Ballad
1-] Popular
ballad : A narrative
folk song .
2-] Broad side
ballad : A song . Topic : A current event , well known
person or debated issue . Tune : Well known . Printed on one side of a sheet of
paper .
3-] Literary
ballad : An imitation
of the popular ballad , but written by a poet.
For an example
of the literary ballad , read these first four stanzas of Coleridge’s “ The
Rime of The Ancient Mariner , Part 1”.
It is an ancient
Mariner .
Because
anonymous folk ballads are part of our oral tradition , the same ballad can
surface from different regions , times or peoples in different forms . An
example is the 17th century “ Barbara Allen” versions / The Cowboy’s
Lament” – “ The Dying Cowboy” [ 19th century ] .
4-] Chansons :
Simple poems meant to be sung .
5-]
Epithalamium poems : Songs written to
celebrate a marriage .
[ Edmund Spenser ]
6-] Madrigals
: Love poems meant to be
sung a cappella [ without instrumental accompanimet ] by five or six singers ,
their voices blending and weaving and out of the melody .
Ex .Take, O!
Take Those Lips Away [ William Shakespeare ]
7-] Rhapsody : Once referring to epic
poetry that is sung , now rhapsody refers to very emotional poems or any
sequence of literary expressions that have arbitrarily joined together .
8-] Serenades
: Evening songs .
9-] Aubades : Early morning songs such as Shakespeare’s “
Kark , Hark , the Lark” .
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