Behind the Lines

Visual Poetry by Individualist

This type of poem is referred to as a Ballade, in particular this is a Ballade Supreme. The Ballade is a form of poetry first used in France in the 14th and 15th century. It was brought to the English language by poets in the 16th century. The most famous English language poems to be written as Ballades were the “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer. These poems are written in iambic form and I have switched lines from Iambic tetrameter to pentameter to suit the meter.


The standard Ballade is a group of three eight line stanzas where the last line is repeated. These have a rhyming scheme of ababbcbc. This is followed by a short four line stanza that also ends with the chosen tag line with a rhyme scheme of bcbc. My poem is a Ballade Supreme with ten line stanzas in the form of ababbccdcd followed by a five line closing stanza ccdcd. The themes of this poem evolved as I wrote it and it all tied nicely to suggest a story or at least the set up of a story.

The visual elements of the poem matched the timber of the lines by introducing more colorful realistic oil elements in the same watercolor drawing. It worked out nicely I thnk, Enjoy!

For references to Ballades please refer to the following articles.  Ballade