Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Ballad Assignment

The Tables Turned
By William Wordsworth


Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks(A),
Why all this toil and trouble?(B)
Up! up! my friend, and quit your books,(A)
Or surely you'll grow double. (B)
The sun, above the mountain's head, ( C)
A freshening lustre mellow (D)
Through all the long green fields has spread, (C)
His first sweet evening yellow. (D)
Books! 'tis dull and endless strife, (E)
Come, here the woodland linnet, (F)
How sweet his music; on my life (E)
There's more of wisdom in it. (F)
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! (G)
And he is no mean preacher; (H)
Come forth into the light of things, (G)
Let Nature be your teacher. (H)
She has a world of ready wealth ,
Our minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by chearfulness.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man;
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mishapes the beauteous forms of things;
--We murder to dissect.
Enough of science and of art;
Close up these barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

This ballad was a ballad that showed most of the characteristics very clearly. The rhyme scheme, the meter..I think that the rhyme scheme of this ballad is ABAB throughout the whole poem. It as easy to identify, because the verbs its self had rhyme not just its sound. I think the meter of this poem is 4343 throught the poem except for the first stanza. However I didn’t really find much repetition except for the first stanza.
The ballad was about nature. The word choice about nature that the author used was mostly appreciating, like sweet, beauteous, light, teacher. The ballad was also talking about resting from science and technology. He said put down your books, because nature can teach more than what scholars can explain. So I think the author is trying to tell us to go back to nature.


He's drinking cold corona
Feels like he's getting older
Now and noticing how he's finding
Grey hairs left in the shower
Tattoos fade by the hour
And he can’t understand these feelings

Why life is getting him down
He used to smile now he frowns
And cries inside
Its been this way for a while
And he can’t seem to put things right

When life has been unkind (A)
And you’re losing your mind (A)
Look in the mirror afraid of what you'll find (B)
Feels like time’s not on your side

He doesn’t like to mention (A)
Applying for his pension (A)
So his children don't know he's heading
Into a mid-life crisis
He can't afford the prices for
the new kitchen floor he’s buying

He's been a drunk all his life (A)
Two kids, a dog and a wife (A)
He doesn’t know (B)
And in the daytime he just sits and watches television shows (B)

When life has been unkind
And you’re losing your mind
Look in the mirror afraid of what you'll find
Feels like time’s not on your side

Don’t know why but somehow (A)
The ones you love you hate now,(A)
You feel down and blue (B)

Look at what you've thrown away(A)
They stood beside you all the way (A)
Now it's too late, it's too late for you (B)

When life has been unkind
And you’re losing your mind
Look in the mirror afraid of what you'll find
Feels like time’s not on your side

The modern song or ballad is “The Ballad of Paul K” by McFly. I didn’t pick the song because the title said it’s a ballad but because it is narrative, telling a story. The song is showing how sad aging is for the man. Who realizes that he is getting old and he isn’t able to do much to help his family.
This ballad doesn’t have a noticeable structure like many other modern ballads. There isn’t much rhyme scheme, and I can’t really find the meter in it. However they tell a story, a narrative, and they had repletion in the ballad.

My Ballad

War

While the generals stay in the back

The privates are staying in the trenches scared to death

Waiting for the first attack

They are holding their breath

The first bullet was shot

And the first solider had passed away

He lay in the spot

Only able to wait to decay

Soldiers making this disaster

With their heavy guns and barrels

They had became monsters

Killing anyone who can be imperil

People covered in despair

Realizing this is reality

The smell of blood vibrates in the air

This is true calamity

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