Home › Glossary › Letter P

Polyphonic ballad

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 ballad that incorporates multiple narrative perspectives or voices within its stanzas, creating dialogic or polyphonic storytelling.

Detailed Definition
A polyphonic ballad layers multiple voices, perspectives, or narrative strands within the traditional ballad form—often through dialogue, shifting speakers, or competing refrains—to create a chorus-like effect that complicates singular truth and emphasizes communal or contested storytelling.
Example
Example in poetry:
Polyphonic ballad in Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” blends prophetic and folk voices; Traditional “Barbara Allen” rendered with multiple narrative perspectives; Polyphonic ballad by Tracy K. Smith: “They said it was a miracle. They said it was a curse.”; Modern example: Danez Smith’s “summer, somewhere” layers queer, Black, and afterlife voices
Additional Notes
A narrative ballad featuring multiple distinct voices or perspectives. Each speaker may have unique dialect or viewpoint. Compare with dramatic monologue. Note how speakers interact or contrast.
Also Known As
Multi-voiced ballad Dialogic narrative Many-speaker story Polyphonic tale
Skip to main content