Home › Glossary › Letter I

Italian ballade

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A lyric poem form from medieval Italy, often set to music and similar to the French ballade.

Detailed Definition
An Italian ballade is a lyrical narrative form originating in medieval Italy, typically featuring a refrain, consistent stanzaic structure, and themes of love or chivalry; distinct from the French ballade, it often employs ottava rima or other Italianate meters and influenced later Renaissance verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem by Petrarch or a later Italian poet like Boccaccio structured as a sequence of three stanzas followed by a two-line or four-line volta or refrain (e.g., A B b A A B b A A B b A B b)
Additional Notes
Italian ballade: An adaptation of the French ballade form, often retaining the three stanzas and a concluding envoy but potentially varying the meter, line length, or specific rhyme scheme from the French model; less strictly defined than the French form.
Also Known As
ballata italiana Italian chanson Italian ballad form Ballata
Skip to main content