Entertainment / Literature / Ballade: A French verse form consisting most often of three eight-line stanzas having the same rhyme pattern, followed by a four-line envoy. In a typical ballade, the last lines of each stanza and of the envoy are the same. Among the most famous ballades are Chaucer's 'Ballade of Good Advice' and Rossetti's translation of Fran???§ois Villon's 'Ballade of Dead Ladies,' which asks in each stanza and in the envoy, 'Mais ou sont les nieges d'antan?' (But where are the snows of yesteryear?') The ballade first rose to prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries, popularized by French poets like Guillaume de Machaut and Eustache Deschampes. It was perfected in the 16th century by Fran???§ois Villon, but it later fell into disrepute when 17th century poets like Moliere and Boileau mocked its conventions. See envoy, ballad.
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Entertainment / Literature / Envoy: Also spelled, envoi, the word envoy refers to a postscript added to the end of a prose writing or a short verse stanza (often using different meter and rhyme) attached to the conclusion of a poem. An MORE
Lifestyle / Poetry / Chant Royale: A complex french form of the ballade, having various forms. MORE
Entertainment / Music / Fixed Forms: Group of forms, especially in medieval France, in which the poetic structure determines musical repetitions. See also ballade, rondeau, virelai. MORE