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CAHSEE ELA 6.4 Literary Genres 227 Views


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Description:

CAHSEE ELA: Literary Genres Drill 6, Problem 4. Which of the following is a characteristic of a ballad?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by ballads. We'd tell you more about them,

00:08

but... it's too long a story.

00:10

Which of the following is a characteristic of a ballad?

00:18

We hopefully remember that ballads are long poems or songs that tell some kind of a story...

00:23

...but to answer this question, we've got to remember a couple other things about them

00:26

as well. Good thing we took our ginko biloba.

00:29

We'll zero in on (D) first.

00:31

We're sure that rhyming is prerequisite for all ballads, so we can take (D) out of consideration.

00:37

Both (A) and (B) fall into the "well kinda" category.

00:40

No one's saying a ballad can't feature larger- than-life heroes and mythical creatures.

00:44

But ballads don't necessarily have to boast any of these things.

00:48

Therefore both (A) and (D) out of our lives. This leaves us with choice (C), which correctly

00:52

identifies the fact that ballads consistently have a musical, song-like quality.

00:57

Think "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or maybe "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Bob Dylan.

01:01

Though some might debate about the musicality of Dylan's voice.

01:04

Of course... there are others who would throw a brick through the window of anyone who questioned

01:07

the primacy of Dylan, so... take it for what it's worth.

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