Ballade: A specific medieval and modern poetic form that was especially popular in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. It is a closed form, meaning it has a strict and prescribed structure. A typical ballade consists of three main stanzas, each of the same length and with the same rhyme scheme, followed by a shorter concluding section called an "envoi" (or "refrain"). The rhymes and the opening line of the first stanza are repeated at the end of the second and third stanzas, and the envoi incorporates these same repeated elements. The structure is highly constrained, making it a difficult form to write in English. The ballade is often used for serious or satirical subjects. François Villon is one of the most famous practitioners of the form. The structure of the ballade showcases the intricate formal experimentation of medieval French poetry and serves as a model for other fixed forms that rely on repetition and a clear division between stanzas and a concluding section.

Ballade is a French fixed form with three stanzas (usually eight lines each) and a four-line envoi, all ending with the same refrain; it demands intricate rhyme schemes and was mastered by Villon and later English poets like Dante Gabriel Rossetti.