Ballad Lesson Plan

Relevant CSOs

RLA.O.7.1.3; RLA.O.8.1.4: Classify the defining characteristics, build background knowledge

and apply reading skills to understand a variety of literary passages and genres by West Virginia,
national and international authors:
 fiction
 nonfiction
 myths, poems
 fantasies
 biographies
 autobiographies
 science fiction, tall tale
 supernatural tales

RLA.O.9.1.7: Explain the literary devices used to construct meaning and define the
author’s/reader’s purpose:
 symbolism
 imagery
 simile
 humor
 rhythm
 meter
 assonance

Activities

PART 1: Orient students to the lesson by asking the following questions: (1) is it easier to
remember the exact wording of a story you hear or the words to a song you hear? Why? (2) How
might songs and poems have been used to help people remember important stories? Discuss the
use of rhyme and rhythm to make the language of poems more memorable.

PART 2: Share definition of ballads and give some examples:

 A ballad is a poem (or song) that recounts an important story.

 The story often is dramatic or tragic. Sometimes it involves magic.
 Ballad of a Harp-weaver (Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1922)
 Barbara Allan

Ballad of a Harp Weaver

"SON," said my mother,
  When I was knee-high,
"You've need of clothes to cover you,
  And not a rag have I.

"There's nothing in the house

  To make a boy breeches,
Nor shears to cut a cloth with
  Nor thread to take stitches.

"There's nothing in the house

  But a loaf-end of rye,
And a harp with a woman's head
  Nobody will buy,"
  And she began to cry.

That was in the early fall.

  When came the late fall,
"Son," she said, "the sight of you
  Makes your mother's blood crawl,–

"Little skinny shoulder-blades

  Sticking through your clothes!
And where you'll get a jacket from
  God above knows.

"It's lucky for me, lad,

  Your daddy's in the ground,
And can't see the way I let
  His son go around!"
  And she made a queer sound.

That was in the late fall.

  When the winter came,
I'd not a pair of breeches
  Nor a shirt to my name.

I couldn't go to school,
  Or out of doors to play.
And all the other little boys
  Passed our way.

"Son," said my mother,

  "Come, climb into my lap,
And I'll chafe your little bones
  While you take a nap."
And, oh, but we were silly
  For half an hour or more,
Me with my long legs
  Dragging on the floor,

A-rock-rock-rocking
  To a mother-goose rhyme!
Oh, but we were happy
  For half an hour's time!

But there was I, a great boy,

  And what would folks say
To hear my mother singing me
  To sleep all day,
  In such a daft way?

Men say the winter

  Was bad that year;
Fuel was scarce,
  And food was dear.

A wind with a wolf's head

  Howled about our door,
And we burned up the chairs
  And sat upon the floor.

All that was left us

  Was a chair we couldn't break,
And the harp with a woman's head
  Nobody would take,
  For song or pity's sake.

The night before Christmas

  I cried with the cold,
I cried myself to sleep
  Like a two-year-old.

And in the deep night

  I felt my mother rise,
And stare down upon me
  With love in her eyes.

I saw my mother sitting

  On the one good chair,
A light falling on her
  From I couldn't tell where,
Looking nineteen,
  And not a day older,
And the harp with a woman's head
  Leaned against her shoulder.

Her thin fingers, moving

  In the thin, tall strings,
Were weav-weav-weaving
  Wonderful things.

Many bright threads,

  From where I couldn't see,
Were running through the harp-strings
  Rapidly,

And gold threads whistling

  Through my mother's hand.
I saw the web grow,
  And the pattern expand.

She wove a child's jacket,

  And when it was done
She laid it on the floor
  And wove another one.

She wove a red cloak

  So regal to see,
"She's made it for a king's son,"
  I said, "and not for me."
  But I knew it was for me.

She wove a pair of breeches

  Quicker than that!
She wove a pair of boots
  And a little cocked hat.

She wove a pair of mittens,

  She wove a little blouse,
She wove all night
  In the still, cold house.

She sang as she worked,

  And the harp-strings spoke;
Her voice never faltered,
  And the thread never broke.
  And when I awoke,–
There sat my mother
  With the harp against her shoulder
Looking nineteen
  And not a day older,

A smile about her lips,

  And a light about her head,
And her hands in the harp-strings
  Frozen dead.

And piled up beside her

  And toppling to the skies,
Were the clothes of a king's son,
  Just my size.

Barbara Allen

In Scarlet town where I was born,

There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry Well-a-day, 
Her name was Barb'ra Allen. 

All in the merry month of May, 

When green buds they were swellin' 
Young Willie Grove on his death-bed lay, 
For love of Barb'ra Allen. 

He sent his servant to her door 

To the town where he was dwellin' 
Haste ye come, to my master's call, 
If your name be be Barb'ra Allen. 

So slowly, slowly got she up, 

And slowly she drew nigh him, 
And all she said when there she came: 
"Young man, I think you're dying!" 

He turned his face unto the wall 

And death was drawing nigh him. 
Good bye, Good bye to dear friends all, 
Be kind to Bar'bra Allen 

When he was dead and laid in grave, 

She heard the death bell knelling. 
And every note, did seem to say
Oh, cruel Barb'ra Allen
"Oh mother, mother, make my bed 
Make it soft and narrow
Sweet William died, for love of me,
And I shall of sorrow." 

They buried her in the old churchyard

Sweet William's grave was neigh hers
And from his grave grew a red, red rose
From hers a cruel briar.

They grew and grew up the old church spire

Until they could grow no higher
And there they twined, in a true love knot,
The red, red rose and the briar.

PART 3: Then ask the whole group to create a story and divide it into parts: (1) First, ask if there
is a local legend (e.g., the Silver Bridge disaster) or a school legend that someone could recount.
(2) Then identify the main events in the story and write them (perhaps in shortened form as
bullet points) on the board. (3) Finally break up the events into a sequence (or story board),
numbering each bulleted event in the sequence.

PART 4: Divide the students into small groups (2 or 3 students per group). Ask each group to
write a stanza (e.g., Group 1 can write the first stanza, Group 2 can write the second, etc.) based
on the main event described in each numbered bullet point.

PART 5: Ask the groups to share their stanzas, and we can add each of the stanzas in turn to
create the whole ballad. If there's time, we can work on making the language more memorable by
working on the rhyme, meter, imagery, and symbolism.

ALTERNATIVE: If time doesn’t allow for the small-group activity, a whole group activity
would allow students to raise their hands to contribute lines for the first couple of stanzas.