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The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 by or: Kisari Mohan Ganguli

o >> or: Kisari Mohan Ganguli >> The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3






59

"Sanjaya said, 'Beholding Duryodhana felled upon the earth like a
gigantic Sala uprooted (by the tempest) the Pandavas became filled with
joy. The Somakas also beheld, with hair standing on end, the Kuru king
felled upon the earth like an infuriated elephant felled by a lion.
Having struck Duryodhana down, the valiant Bhimasena, approaching the
Kuru chief, addressed him, saying, "O wretch, formerly laughing at the
disrobed Draupadi in the midst of the assembly, thou hadst, O fool,
addressed us as 'Cow, Cow!' Bear now the fruit of that insult!" Having
said these words, he touched the head of his fallen foe with his left
foot. Indeed, he struck the head of that lion among kings with his foot.
With eyes red in wrath, Bhimasena, that grinder of hostile armies, once
more said these words. Listen to them, O monarch! "They that danced at us
insultingly, saying, 'Cow, Cow!' we shall now dance at them, uttering the
same words, 'Cow, Cow!' We have no guile, no fire, no match, at dice, no
deception! Depending upon the might of our own arms we resist and check
our foes!" Having attained to the other shores of those fierce
hostilities, Vrikodara once more laughingly said these words slowly unto
Yudhishthira and Keshava and Srinjaya and Dhananjaya and the two sons of
Madri, "They that had dragged Draupadi, while ill, into the assembly and
had disrobed her there, behold those Dhartarashtras slain in battle by
the Pandavas through the ascetic penances of Yajnasena's daughter! Those
wicked-hearted sons of king Dhritarashtra who had called us 'Sesame seeds
without kernel,' have all been slain by us with their relatives and
followers! It matters little whether (as a consequence of those deeds) we
go to heaven or fall into hell!" Once more, uplifting the mace that lay
on his shoulders, he struck with his left foot the head of the monarch
who was prostrate on the earth, and addressing the deceitful Duryodhana,
said these words. Many of the foremost warriors among the Somakas, who
were all of righteous souls, beholding the foot of the rejoicing
Bhimasena of narrow heart placed upon the head of that foremost one of
Kuru's race, did not at all approve of it. While Vrikodara, after having
struck down thy son, was thus bragging and dancing madly, king
Yudhishthira addressed him, saying, "Thou hast paid off thy hostility
(towards Duryodhana) and accomplished thy vow by a fair or an unfair act!
Cease now, O Bhima! Do not crush his head with thy foot! Do not act
sinfully! Duryodhana is a king! He is, again, thy kinsman! He is fallen!
This conduct of thine, O sinless one, is not proper. Duryodhana was the
lord of eleven Akshauhinis of troops. He was the king of the Kurus. Do
not, O Bhima, touch a king and a kinsman with thy foot. His kinsmen are
slain. His friends and counsellors are gone. His troops have been
exterminated. He has been struck down in battle. He is to be pitied in
every respect. He deserves not to be insulted, for remember that he is a
king. He is ruined. His friends and kinsmen have been slain. His brothers
have been killed. His sons too have been slain. His funeral cake hath
been taken away. He is our brother. This that thou doest unto him is not
proper. 'Bhimasena is a man of righteous behaviour': people used to say
this before of thee! Why then, O Bhimasena, dost thou insult the king in
this way?" Having said these words unto Bhimasena, Yudhishthira, with
voice choked in tears, and afflicted with grief, approached Duryodhana,
that chastiser of foes, and said unto him, "O sire, thou shouldst not
give way to anger nor grieve for thyself. Without doubt thou bearest the
dreadful consequences of thy own former acts. Without doubt this sad and
woeful result had been ordained by the Creator himself, that we should
injure thee and thou shouldst injure us, O foremost one of Kuru's race!
Through thy own fault this great calamity has come upon thee, due to
avarice and pride and folly, O Bharata! Having caused thy companions and
brothers and sires and sons and grandsons and others to be all slain,
thou comest now by thy own death. In consequence of thy fault, thy
brothers, mighty car-warriors all, and thy kinsmen have been slain by us.
I think all this to be the work of irresistible Destiny. Thou art not to
be pitied. On the other hand, thy death, O sinless one, is enviable. It
is we that deserve to be pitied in every respect, O Kaurava! We shall
have to drag on a miserable existence, reft of all our dear friends and
kinsmen. Alas, how shall I behold the widows, overwhelmed with grief and
deprived of their senses by sorrow, of my brothers and sons and
grandsons! Thou, O king, departest from this world! Thou art sure to have
thy residence in heaven! We, on the other hand, shall be reckoned as
creatures of hell, and shall continue to suffer the most poignant grief!
The grief-afflicted wives of Dhritarashtra's sons and grandsons, those
widows crushed with sorrow, will without doubt, curse us all!" Having
said these words, Dharma's royal son, Yudhishthira, deeply afflicted with
grief, began to breathe hard and indulge in lamentations.'"



60

"Dhritarashtra said, 'Beholding the (Kuru) king struck down unfairly,
what O Suta, did the mighty Baladeva, that foremost one of Yadu's race,
say? Tell me, O Sanjaya, what Rohini's son, well-skilled in encounters
with the mace and well acquainted with all its rules, did on that
occasion!'

"Sanjaya said, 'Beholding thy son struck at the thighs, the mighty Rama,
that foremost of smiters, became exceedingly angry. Raising his arms
aloft the hero having the plough for his weapon, in a voice of deep
sorrow, said in the midst of those kings, "Oh, fie on Bhima, fie on
Bhima! Oh, fie, that in such a fair fight a blow hath been struck below
the navel! Never before hath such an act as Vrikodara hath done been
witnessed in an encounter with the mace! No limb below the navel should
be struck. This is the precept laid down in treatises! This Bhima,
however, is an ignorant wretch, unacquainted with the truths of
treatises! He, therefore, acteth as he likes!" While uttering these
words, Rama gave way to great wrath. The mighty Baladeva then, uplifting
his plough, rushed towards Bhimasena! The form of that high-souled
warrior of uplifted arms then became like that of the gigantic mountains
of Kailasa variegated with diverse kinds of metals. The mighty Keshava,
however, ever bending with humanity, seized the rushing Rama encircling
him with his massive and well-rounded arms. Those two foremost heroes of
Yadu's race, the one dark in complexion and the other fair, looked
exceedingly beautiful at that moment, like the Sun and the Moon, O king,
on the evening sky! For pacifying the angry Rama, Keshava addressed him,
saying, "There are six kinds of advancement that a person may have: one's
own advancement, the advancement of one's friends, the advancement of
one's friends', the decay of one's enemy, the decay of one's enemy's
friends, and the decay of one's enemy's friends' friends. When reverses
happen to one's own self or to one's friends, one should then understand
that one's fall is at hand and, therefore, one should at such times look
for the means of applying a remedy. The Pandavas of unsullied prowess are
our natural friends. They are the children of our own sire's sister! They
had been greatly afflicted by their foes! The accomplishment of one's vow
is one's duty. Formerly Bhima had vowed in the midst of the assembly that
he would in great battle break with his mace the thighs of Duryodhana.
The great Rishi Maitreya also, O scorcher of foes, had formerly cursed
Duryodhana, saying, 'Bhima will, with his mace, break thy thighs!' In
consequence of all this, I do not see any fault in Bhima! Do not give way
to wrath, O slayer of Pralamva! Our relationship with the Pandavas is
founded upon birth and blood, as also upon an attraction of hearts. In
their growth is our growth. Do not, therefore, give way to wrath, O bull
among men!" Hearing these words of Vasudeva the wielder of the plough,
who was conversant with rules of morality, said, "Morality is well
practised by the good. Morality, however, is always afflicted by two
things, the desire of Profit entertained by those that covet it, and the
desire for Pleasure cherished by those that are wedded to it. Whoever
without afflicting Morality and Profit, or Morality and Pleasure, or
Pleasure and Profit, followeth all three--Morality, Profit and
Pleasure--always succeeds in obtaining great happiness. In consequence,
however, of morality being afflicted by Bhimasena, this harmony of which
I have spoken hath been disturbed, whatever, O Govinda, thou mayst tell
me!" Krishna replied, saying, "Thou art always described as bereft of
wrath, and righteous-souled and devoted to righteousness! Calm thyself,
therefore, and do not give way to wrath! Know that the Kali age is at
hand. Remember also the vow made by the son of Pandu! Let, therefore, the
son of Pandu be regarded to have paid off the debt he owed to his
hostility and to have fulfilled his vow!"

"Sanjaya continued, 'Hearing this fallacious discourse from Keshava, O
king, Rama failed to dispel his wrath and became cheerful. He then said
in that assembly, "Having unfairly slain king Suyodhana of righteous
soul, the son of Pandu shall be reputed in the world as a crooked
warrior! The righteous-souled Duryodhana, on the other hand, shall obtain
eternal blessedness! Dhritarashtra's royal son, that ruler of men, who
hath been struck down, is a fair warrior. Having made every arrangement
for the Sacrifice of battle and having undergone the initiatory
ceremonies on the field, and, lastly, having poured his life as a
libation upon the fire represented by his foes, Duryodhana has fairly
completed his sacrifice by the final ablutions represented by the
attainment of glory!" Having said these words, the valiant son of Rohini,
looking like the crest of a white cloud, ascended his car and proceeded
towards Dwaraka. The Pancalas with the Vrishnis, as also the Pandavas, O
monarch, became rather cheerless after Rama had set out for Dwaravati.
Then Vasudeva, approaching Yudhishthira who was exceedingly melancholy
and filled with anxiety, and who hung down his head and knew not what to
do in consequence of his deep affliction, said unto him these words:

"'Vasudeva said, "O Yudhishthira the just, why dost thou sanction this
unrighteous act, since thou permittest the head of the insensible and
fallen Duryodhana whose kinsmen and friends have all been slain to be
thus struck by Bhima with his foot. Conversant with the ways of morality,
why dost thou, O king, witness this act with indifference?"

"'Yudhishthira answered, "This act, O Krishna, done from wrath, of
Vrikodara's touching the head of the king with his foot, is not agreeable
to me, nor am I glad at this extermination of my race! By guile were we
always deceived by the sons of Dhritarashtra! Many were the cruel words
they spoke to us. We were again exiled into the woods by them. Great is
the grief on account of all those acts that is in Bhimasena's heart!
Reflecting on all this, O thou of Vrishni's race, I looked on with
indifference! Having slain the covetous Duryodhana bereft of wisdom and
enslaved by his passions, let the son of Pandu gratify his desire, be it
righteousness or unrighteousness!"

"Sanjaya continued, 'After Yudhishthira had said this, Vasudeva, that
perpetuator of Yadu's race, said with difficulty, "Let it be so!" Indeed,
after Vasudeva had been addressed in those words by Yudhishthira, the
former, who, always wished what was agreeable to and beneficial for
Bhima, approved all those acts that Bhima had done in battle. Having
struck down thy son in battle, the wrathful Bhimasena, his heart filled
with joy, stood with joined hands before Yudhishthira and saluted him in
proper form. With eyes expanded in delight and proud of the victory he
had won, Vrikodara of great energy, O king, addressed his eldest brother,
saying, "The Earth is today thine, O king, without brawls to disturb her
and with all her thorns removed! Rule over her, O monarch, and observe
the duties of thy order! He who was the cause of these hostilities and
who fomented them by means of his guile, that wretched wight fond of
deception, lieth, struck down, on the bare ground, O lord of earth! All
these wretches headed by Duhshasana, who used to utter cruel words, as
also those other foes of thine, the son of Radha, and Shakuni, have been
slain! Teeming with all kinds of gems, the Earth, with her forests and
mountains, O monarch, once more cometh to thee that hast no foes alive!"

"'Yudhishthira said, "Hostilities have come to an end! King Suyodhana
hath been struck down! The earth hath been conquered (by us), ourselves
having acted according to the counsels of Krishna! By good luck, thou
hast paid off thy debt to thy mother and to thy wrath! By good luck, thou
hast been victorious, O invincible hero, and by good luck, thy foe hath
been slain!"'"



61

"Dhritarashtra said, 'Beholding Duryodhana struck down in battle by
Bhimasena, what, O Sanjaya, did the Pandavas and the Srinjayas do?'

"Sanjaya said, 'Beholding Duryodhana slain by Bhimasena in battle, O
king, like a wild elephant slain by a lion, the Pandavas with Krishna
became filled with delight. The Pancalas and the Srinjayas also, upon the
fall of the Kuru king, waved their upper garments (in the air) and
uttered leonine roars. The very Earth seemed to be unable to bear those
rejoicing warriors. Some stretched their bows; others drew their
bowstrings. Some blew their huge conchs; others beat their drums. Some
sported and jumped about, while some amongst thy foes laughed aloud. Many
heroes repeatedly said these words unto Bhimasena, "Exceedingly difficult
and great hath been the fears that thou hast achieved today in battle, by
having struck down the Kuru king, himself a great warrior, with thy mace!
All these men regard this slaughter of the foe by thee to be like that of
Vritra by Indra himself! Who else, save thyself, O Vrikodara, could slay
the heroic Duryodhana while careering in diverse kinds of motion and
performing all the wheeling manoeuvres (characteristic of such
encounters)? Thou hast now reached the other shore of these hostilities,
that other shore which none else could reach. This feat that thou hast
achieved is incapable of being achieved by any other warriors. By good
luck, thou hast, O hero, like an infuriated elephant, crushed with thy
foot the head of Duryodhana on the field of battle! Having fought a
wonderful battle, by good luck, O sinless one, thou hast quaffed the
blood of Duhshasana, like a lion quaffing the blood of a buffalo! By good
luck, thou hast, by thy own energy, placed thy foot on the head of all
those that had injured the righteous-souled king Yudhishthira! In
consequence of having vanquished thy foes and of thy having slain
Duryodhana, by good luck, O Bhima, thy fame hath spread over the whole
world! Bards and eulogists applauded Shakra after the fall of Vritra,
even as we are now applauding thee, O Bharata, after the fall of thy
foes! Know, O Bharata, that the joy we felt upon the fall of Duryodhana
hath not yet abated in the least!" Even these were the words addressed to
Bhimasena by the assembled eulogists on that occasion! Whilst those
tigers among men, the Pancalas and the Pandavas, all filled with delight
were indulging in such language, the slayer of Madhu addressed them,
saying, "You rulers of men, it is not proper to slay a slain foe with
such cruel speeches repeatedly uttered. This wight of wicked
understanding hath already been slain. This sinful, shameless, and
covetous wretch, surrounded by sinful counsellors and ever regardless of
the advice of wise friends, met with his death even when he refused,
though repeatedly urged to contrary by Vidura and Drona and Kripa and
Sanjaya, to give unto the sons of Pandu their paternal share in the
kingdom which they had solicited at his hands! This wretch is not now fit
to be regarded either as a friend or a foe! What use in spending bitter
breath upon one who hath now become a piece of wood! Mount your cars
quickly, ye kings, for we should leave this place! By good luck, this
sinful wretch hath been slain with his counsellors and kinsmen and
friends!" Hearing these rebukes from Krishna, king Duryodhana, O monarch,
gave way to wrath and endeavoured to rise. Sitting on his haunches and
supporting himself on his two arms, he contracted his eyebrows and cast
angry glances at Vasudeva. The form then of Duryodhana whose body was
half raised looked like that of a poisonous snake, O Bharata, shorn of
its tail. Disregarding his poignant and unbearable pains, Duryodhana
began to afflict Vasudeva with keen and bitter words, "O son of Kansa's
slave, thou hast, it seems, no shame, for hast thou forgotten that I have
been struck down most unfairly, judged by the rules that prevail in
encounters with the mace? It was thou who unfairly caused this act by
reminding Bhima with a hint about the breaking of my thighs! Dost thou
think I did not mark it when Arjuna (acting under thy advice) hinted it
to Bhima? Having caused thousands of kings, who always fought fairly, to
be slain through diverse kinds of unfair means, feelest thou no shame or
no abhorrence for those acts? Day after day having caused a great carnage
of heroic warriors, thou causedst the grandsire to be slain by placing
Shikhandi to the fore! Having again caused an elephant of the name of
Ashvatthama to be slain, O thou of wicked understanding, thou causedst
the preceptor to lay aside his weapons. Thinkest thou that this is not
known to me! While again that valiant hero was about to be slain this
cruel Dhrishtadyumna, thou didst not dissuade the latter! The dart that
had been begged (of Shakra as a boon) by Karna for the slaughter of
Arjuna was baffled by thee through Ghatotkacha! Who is there that is more
sinful than thou? Similarly, the mighty Bhurishrava, with one of his arms
lopped off and while observant of the Praya vow, was caused to be slain
by thee through the agency of the high-souled Satyaki. Karna had done a
great feat for vanquishing Partha. Thou, however, causedst Aswasena, the
son of that prince of snakes (Takshaka), to be baffled in achieving his
purpose! When again the wheel of Karna's car sank in mire and Karna was
afflicted with calamity and almost vanquished on that account, when,
indeed, that foremost of men became anxious to liberate his wheel, thou
causedst that Karna to be then slain! If ye had fought me and Karna and
Bhishma and Drona by fair means, victory then, without doubt, would never
have been yours. By adopting the most crooked and unrighteous of means
thou hast caused many kings observant of the duties of their order and
ourselves also to be slain!'

"'Vasudeva said, "Thou, O son of Gandhari, hast been slain with thy
brothers, sons, kinsmen, friends, and followers, only in consequence of
the sinful path in which thou hast trod! Through thy evil acts those two
heroes, Bhishma and Drona, have been slain! Karna too hath been slain for
having imitated thy behaviour! Solicited by me, O fool, thou didst not,
from avarice, give the Pandavas their paternal share, acting according to
the counsels of Shakuni! Thou gavest poison to Bhimasena! Thou hadst,
also, O thou of wicked understanding, endeavoured to burn all the
Pandavas with their mother at the palace of lac! On the occasion also of
the gambling, thou hadst persecuted the daughter of Yajnasena, while in
her season, in the midst of the assembly! Shameless as thou art, even
then thou becamest worthy of being slain! Thou hadst, through Subala's
son well-versed in dice, unfairly vanquished the virtuous Yudhishthira
who was unskilled in gambling! For that art thou slain! Through the
sinful Jayadratha again, Krishna was on another occasion persecuted when
the Pandavas, her lords, had gone out hunting towards the hermitage of
Trinavindu! Causing Abhimanyu, who was a child and alone, to be
surrounded by many, thou didst slay that hero. It is in consequence of
that fault, O sinful wretch, that thou art slain! All those unrighteous
acts that thou sayest have been perpetrated by us, have in reality been
perpetrated by thee in consequence of thy sinful nature! Thou didst never
listen to the counsels of Brihaspati and Usanas! Thou didst never wait
upon the old! Thou didst never hear beneficial words! Enslaved by
ungovernable covetousness and thirst of gain, thou didst perpetrate many
unrighteous acts! Bear now the consequences of those acts of thine!"

"'Duryodhana said, "I have studied, made presents according to the
ordinance, governed the wide Earth with her seas, and stood over the
heads of my foes! Who is there so fortunate as myself! That end again
which is courted by Kshatriyas observant of the duties of their own
order, death in battle, hath become mine. Who, therefore, is so fortunate
as myself? Human enjoyments such as were worthy of the very gods and such
as could with difficulty be obtained by other kings, had been mine.
Prosperity of the very highest kind had been attained by me! Who then is
so fortunate as myself? With all my well-wishers, and my younger
brothers, I am going to heaven, O thou of unfading glory! As regards
yourselves, with your purposes unachieved and torn by grief, live ye in
this unhappy world!"'

"Sanjaya continued, 'Upon the conclusion of these words of the
intelligent king of the Kurus, a thick shower of fragrant flowers fell
from the sky. The Gandharvas played upon many charming musical
instruments. The Apsaras in a chorus sang the glory of king Duryodhana.
The Siddhas uttered loud sound to the effect, "Praise be to king
Duryodhana!" Fragrant and delicious breezes mildly blew on every side.
All the quarters became clear and the firmament looked blue as the lapis
lazuli. Beholding these exceedingly wonderful things and this worship
offered to Duryodhana, the Pandavas headed by Vasudeva became ashamed.
Hearing (invisible beings cry out) that Bhishma and Drona and Karna and
Bhurishrava were slain unrighteously, they became afflicted with grief
and wept in sorrow. Beholding the Pandavas filled with anxiety and grief,
Krishna addressed them in a voice deep as that of the clouds or the drum,
saying, "All of them were great car-warriors and exceedingly quick in the
use of weapons! If ye had put forth all your prowess, even then ye could
never have slain them in battle by fighting fairly! King Duryodhana also
could never be slain in a fair encounter! The same is the case with all
those mighty car-warriors headed by Bhishma! From desire of doing good to
you, I repeatedly applied my powers of illusion and caused them to be
slain by diverse means in battle. If I had not adopted such deceitful
ways in battle, victory would never have been yours, nor kingdom, nor
wealth! Those four were very high-souled warriors and regarded as
Atirathas in the world. The very Regents of the Earth could not slay them
in fair fight! Similarly, the son of Dhritarashtra, though fatigued when
armed with the mace, could not be slain in fair fight by Yama himself
armed with his bludgeon! You should not take it to heart that this foe of
yours hath been slain deceitfully. When the number of one's foes becomes
great, then destruction should be effected by contrivances and means. The
gods themselves, in slaying the Asuras, have trod the same way. That way,
therefore, that hath been trod by the gods, may be trod by all. We have
been crowned with success. It is evening. We had better depart to our
tents. Let us all, ye kings, take rest with our steeds and elephants and
cars." Hearing these words of Vasudeva, the Pandavas and the Pancalas,
filled with delight, roared like a multitude of lions. All of them blew
their conchs and Jadava himself blew Panchajanya, filled with joy, O bull
among men, at the sight of Duryodhana struck down in battle.'"



62

Sanjaya said, "All those kings, possessed of arms that resembled spiked
bludgeons, then proceeded towards their tents, filled with joy and
blowing their conchs on their way. The Pandavas also, O monarch,
proceeded towards our encampment. The great bowman Yuyutsu followed them,
as also Satyaki, and Dhrishtadyumna, and Shikhandi, and the five sons of
Draupadi. The other great bowmen also proceeded towards our tents. The
Parthas then entered the tent of Duryodhana, shorn of its splendours and
reft of its lord and looking like an arena of amusement after it has been
deserted by spectators. Indeed, that pavilion looked like a city reft of
festivities, or a lake without its elephant. It then swarmed with women
and eunuchs and certain aged counsellors. Duryodhana and other heroes,
attired in robes dyed in yellow, formerly used, O king, to wait
reverentially, with joined hands, on those old counsellors.

Arrived at the pavilion of the Kuru king, the Pandavas, those foremost of
car-warriors, O monarch, dismounted from their cars. At that time, always
engaged, O bull of Bharata's race, in the good of his friend, Keshava,
addressed the wielder of gandiva, saying, "Take down thy gandiva as also
the two inexhaustible quivers. I shall dismount after thee, O best of the
Bharatas! Get thee down, for this is for thy good, O sinless one!"

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Poster poems: Ballads
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Books

Fidel and Che: a revolutionary friendship

After last week's fairly open theme, I thought I'd go with something a bit more structured this time. As I type this, I'm listening to Steeleye Span and thinking about the great ballad traditions of Britain and Ireland. What is a ballad? I suppose the most inclusive definition would be that it's a singable narrative poem: that covers a multitude but will do for the moment.

Ballads in English stretch back to the middle ages, with fine examples to be found among the Scottish border ballads and the English Robin Hood poems. These early ballads are among the best-known poems and stories in the language, and form part of the common heritage of English speakers everywhere. They gave rise to a tradition of ballad-making that endures down to the present day.

In fact, most poets since have tried their hand at the ballad at one time or another, and the result has been to deny any definition more specific than the one I ventured in my first paragraph. If you look around the internet, you'll come up with a wide selection of poems that are called ballads but have little in common formally. Stanza length varies from two to 10 or more lines, and all sorts of metrical and rhyming patterns are used. A good number will be singable in only the loosest possible sense, and at times the narrative tends to get lost in a mesh of more-or-less successful verbal embroidery.

So, what should a ballad be? Well, "proper" ballad stanzas are quatrains in which the first and third lines have four stresses and the second and third have three. The lines will rhyme A-B-C-B or A-B-A-B. It's as simple, and as difficult, as that. Here's an example, from Robert Burns's extremely singable Comin Thro' the Rye:

Gin a body meet a body
          Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body –
          Need a body cry.

Burns wrote a good number of ballads, and his lead was followed by many 19th-century poets. Two examples that I particularly like are Robert Browning's Confessions and Christina Rossetti's Up-Hill, but you can find ballads by just about any Romantic or Victorian poet if you look for them.

There is a long, strong tradition of ballads and ballad singers in Ireland, too. It is hardly surprising, then, that the great appropriator of tradition, WB Yeats, tried his hand at the form. At least four of his poems have the word "ballad" in the title; the pick of the bunch, for my money, is The Ballad of Father Gilligan, which may have benefited from having been written with a specific tune in mind.

Ballads continued to be written in the 20th century; perhaps the most unexpected exponents were Ezra Pound, with his Ballad of the Goodly Fere, and WH Auden. In fact, the ballad The Quarry is probably my favourite Auden poem.

And so, this week I invite a chorus of balladeering. You may choose to go the whole hog and write in ballad stanzas or you might prefer to take a more liberal view of the formal requirements. Either way, sing up and – as they say at all the best Irish sessions when calling for a bit of hush for the singer – one voice please.

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