Comparative Essay

701 Words3 Pages
A ballad is a poem that retells a story. They are also known as narrative poetry they can sometimes be sung or just read. They often have an ending that is tragic or sad. We have studied two ballads 'The ballad of Hillsborough', and 'The ballad of Frankie and Jhonnie'. The ballad of Hillsborough by Simon Rae is about the disasterous football match that happened in 1989 when people were squished againts fences the lead to nintey-five dead. The ballad of Frankie and Jhonnie is about Jhonnie cheating on his girlfreind Frankie and Frankie shooting Jhonnie in revenge who then gets hung. The layout of a ballad is important because the poem needs to be broken up into so many stazas so that the ballad is easier to read or sing and is also easier to understand. Both ballads are broken up into stanzas. The ballad of Hillsborough, is broken up into thirteen stanzas with varying lines in each however, The ballad of Frankie and Jhonnie is broken up into fifteen stanzas with lines that vary beetween five and six lines in each. Ballads include different types of language such as similes, repetition, onomataphia and alliteration. Both ballads use an effective range of language. In The ballad of Hillsborough, it uses lots of language. At the begining of the poem the poet uses the lines ' The Liverpool supporters were given the smaller end', to show that they werent given enough room in the first place. Simon Rae also uses the word 'penned' to also prove that the supporters were treated badly because we use the word penned to show that animals are in a small place. The poet then uses a similie: 'It's like reaching the top of a stairwell and finding theres to stairs', meaning that when the Liverpool supporters were squished there was nowhere for them to go. Alliteration: 'down' to show the horror of loosing a loved one. Personification: 'A city heart beats', which suggests
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