Ballad Articles

Essential Patterns in Poetry

As part of our Poetry Craft series, Carmen Bugan discusses the essential patterns used in poetry: triolet, rondeau, villanelle, sonnet, sestina, and ballad. Let’s start with the triolet: what makes this form special, and do you have a favourite poem that shows it at its best? Writing a triolet is an excellent way to begin…

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How I Did It: ‘The Ballad of the Small-Boned Daughter’

Shafilea Ahmed died in September 2003 aged 17. She was a British Pakistani girl from Warrington, Cheshire. She was a beautiful and spirited girl who was murdered in a so called ‘honour killing’ by her parents. Like so many others I watched the long gruesome trial in 2012 when her parents were finally convicted of…

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