A \ B \ C \ D \ E \ F \ G \ H \ I \ J \ K \ L \ M \ N \ O \ P \ R \ S \ T \ U \ V \ W \Z

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






18

"Sanjaya said, 'Meanwhile towards the northern part of the Pandava army,
a loud uproar arose of cars and elephants and steeds and foot-soldiers as
those were being massacred by Dandadhara. Turning the course of the car,
but without stopping the steeds which were as fleet as Garuda or the
wind, Keshava, addressing Arjuna, said, "The chief of the Magadhas, with
his (foe-crushing) elephant is unrivalled in prowess. In training and
might he is not inferior to Bhagadatta himself. Having slain him first,
thou wilt then slay the samsaptakas." At the conclusion of his words,
Keshava bore Partha to the presence of Dandadhara. The chief of the
Magadhas, peerless in handling the elephant-hook even as the headless
planet Ketu (is peerless) among all the planets, was destroying the
hostile army like a fierce comet destroying the whole earth. Riding on
his foe-slaying and well-equipped elephant which looked like the danava
with elephantine face and form, and whose roar resembled that of a
congregated mass of clouds, Dandadhara was destroying with his shafts
thousands of cars and steeds and elephants and men. The elephants also,
treading upon cars with their feet, pressed down into the Earth a large
number of men with their steeds and drivers. Many were the elephants,
also, which that foremost of elephants, crushed and slew with his two
forefeet and trunk. Indeed, the beast moved like the wheel of Death.
Slaying men adorned with steel coats of mail, along with their horses and
foot-soldiers, the chief of the Magadhas caused these to be pressed down
into the earth, like thick reeds pressed down with crackling sounds, by
means of that mighty and foremost of elephants belonging to him. Then
Arjuna, riding on that foremost of cars, rushed quickly towards that
prince of elephants in the midst of that host teeming with thousands of
cars and steeds and elephants, and resounding with the beat and blare of
innumerable cymbals and drums and conchs and uproarious with the clatter
of car-wheels, the twang of bow-strings, and the sound of palms. Even
Dandadhara pierced Arjuna with a dozen foremost of shafts and Janardana
with sixteen and each of the steeds with three, and then uttered a loud
shout and laughed repeatedly. Then Partha, with a number of broad-headed
shafts, cut off the bow of his antagonist with its string and arrow fixed
thereon, as also his well-decked standard, and then the guides of his
beast and the footmen that protected the animal. At this, the lord of
Girivraja became filled with rage. Desirous of agitating Janardana with
that tusker of his, whose temples had split from excitement, and which
resembled a mass of clouds and was endued with the speed of the wind,
Dandadhara struck Dhananjaya with many lances. The son of Pandu then,
with three razor-headed arrows, cut off, almost at the same instant of
time, the two arms each looking like the trunk of an elephant, and then
the head, resembling the full Moon, of his foe. Then Arjuna struck the
elephant of this antagonist with hundreds of arrows. Covered with the
gold-decked arrows of Partha, that elephant equipped with golden armour
looked as resplendent as a mountain in the night with its herbs and trees
blazing in a conflagration. Afflicted with the pain and roaring like a
mass of clouds, and exceedingly weakened, the elephant crying and
wandering and running with tottering steps, fell down with the guide on
its neck, like a mountain summit riven by thunder. Upon the fall of his
brother in battle, Danda advanced against Indra's younger brother and
Dhananjaya, desirous of slaying them, on his tusker white as snow and
adorned with gold and looking like a Himalayan summit. Danda struck
Janardana with three whetted lances bright as the rays of the sun, and
Arjuna with five, and uttered a loud shout. The son of Pandu then
uttering a loud shout cut off the two arms of Danda. Cut off by means of
razor-headed shafts, those two arms, smeared with sandal-paste, adorned
with angadas, and with lances in grasp, as they fell from the elephant's
back at the same instant of time, looked resplendent like a couple of
large snakes of great beauty falling down from a mountain summit. Cut off
with a crescent-shaped arrow by the diadem-decked (Partha), the head also
of Danda fell down on the Earth from the elephant's back, and covered
with blood it looked resplendent as it lay like the sun dropped from the
Asta mountain towards the western quarter. Then Partha pierced with many
excellent arrows bright as the rays of the sun that elephant of his foe,
resembling a mass of white clouds whereupon it fell down with a noise
like a Himalayan summit riven with thunder. Then other huge elephants
capable of winning victory and resembling the two already slain, were cut
off by Savyasaci, in that battle, even as the two (belonging to Danda and
Dandadhara) had been cut off. At this the vast hostile force broke. Then
elephants and cars and steeds and men, in dense throngs, clashed against
one another and fell down on the field. Tottering, they violently struck
one another and fell down deprived of life. Then his soldiers,
encompassing Arjuna like the celestials encompassing Purandara, began to
say, "O hero, that foe of whom we had been frightened like creatures at
the sight of Death himself, hath by good luck been slain by thee. If thou
hadst not protected from that fear those people that were so deeply
afflicted by mighty foes, then by this time our foes would have felt that
delight which we now feel at their death, O slayer of enemies." Hearing
these and other words uttered by friends and allies, Arjuna, with a
cheerful heart, worshipped those men, each according to his deserts, and
proceeded once more against the samsaptakas.'"



19

"Sanjaya said, 'Wheeling round, like the planet Mercury in the curvature
of its orbit, Jishnu (Arjuna) once more slew large number of the
samsaptakas. Afflicted with the shafts of Partha, O king, men, steeds,
and elephants, O Bharata, wavered and wondered and lost colour and fell
down and died. Many foremost of animals tied to yokes and drivers and
standards, and bows, and shafts and hands and weapons in grasp, and arms,
and heads, of heroic foes fighting with him, the son of Pandu cut off in
that battle, with arrows, some of which were broad-headed, some equipped
with heads like razors, some crescent-shaped, and some furnished with
heads like the calf's tooth. Like bulls fighting with a bull for the sake
of a cow in season, brave warriors by hundreds and thousands closed upon
Arjuna. The battle that took place between them and him made the hair to
stand on end like the encounter between the Daityas and Indra, the
wielder of the thunderbolt on the occasion of the conquest of the three
worlds. Then the son of Ugrayudha pierced Partha with three shafts
resembling three venomous snakes. Partha, however, cut off from his
enemy's trunk the latter's head. Then those warriors, filled with rage,
covered Arjuna from every side with diverse kinds of weapons like the
clouds urged by the Maruts shrouding Himavat at the close of summer.
Checking with his own weapons those of his foes on every side, Arjuna
slew a large number of his enemies with well-shot shafts. With his arrows
Arjuna then cut off the Trivenus, the steeds, the drivers, and the
parshni drivers of many cars, and displaced the weapons and quivers of
many, and deprived many of their wheels and standards, and broke the
cords, the traces and the axles of many, and destroyed the bottoms and
yokes of others, and caused all the equipment of many to fall from their
places. Those cars, thus smashed and injured by Arjuna in large numbers,
looked like the luxurious mansions of the rich destroyed by fire, wind,
and rain. Elephants, their vitals pierced with shafts resembling
thunderbolts in impetuosity, fell down like mansions on mountain-tops
overthrown by blasts of lightning. Large numbers of steeds with their
riders, struck by Arjuna, fell down on the Earth, their tongues and
entrails pressed out, themselves deprived of strength and bathed in
blood, and presenting an awful sight. Men and steeds and elephants,
pierced by Savyasaci (Arjuna) with his shafts, wondered and tottered and
fell down and uttered cries of pain and looked pale, O sire. Like
Mahendra smiting down the danavas, Partha smote down large numbers of his
foes, by means of shafts whetted on stone and resembling the thunder of
poison in deadliness. Brave warriors, cased in costly coats of mail and
decked with ornaments and armed with diverse kinds of weapons, lay on the
field, with their cars and standards, slain by Partha. Vanquished (and
deprived of life) persons of righteous deeds, possessed of noble birth
and great knowledge, proceeded to heaven in consequence of those glorious
deeds of theirs while their bodies only lay on Earth. Then the chief,
belonging to thy army, of various realms, filled with wrath and
accompanied by their followers, rushed against Arjuna, that foremost of
car-warriors. Warriors borne on their cars and steeds and elephants, and
foot-soldiers also, all desirous of slaying (Arjuna), rushed towards him,
shooting diverse weapons with great speed. Then Arjuna like wind, by
means of keen shafts, destroyed that thick shower of weapons dropped by
those warriors constituting a mass of congregated clouds. People then
beheld Arjuna crossing that raftless ocean constituted by steeds and
foot-soldiers and elephants and cars, and having mighty weapons for its
waves, on a bridge constituted by his own mighty weapons of offence and
defence. Then Vasudeva, addressing Partha, said, "Why, O sinless one,
dost thou sport in this way? Grinding these samsaptakas, haste thyself
for Karna's slaughter." Saying, "So be it" unto Krishna, Arjuna then,
forcibly smiting the remnant of the samsaptakas with his weapons, began
to destroy them like Indra destroying the Daityas. At that time, with
even the closest attention, men could not mark when Arjuna took out his
shafts, when he aimed them and when he let them off quickly. Govinda
himself, O Bharata, regarded it wonderful. Like swans diving into a lake
the shafts of Arjuna, white and active as swans, penetrated into the
hostile force. Then Govinda, beholding the field of battle during the
progress of that carnage, said these words to Savyasaci, "Here, O Partha,
for the sake of Duryodhana alone, occurreth this great and terrible
destruction of the Bharatas and other kings of Earth. Behold, O son of
Bharata, these bows, with golden backs, of many mighty bowmen, and these
girdles and quivers loosened from their bodies. Behold these straight
shafts equipped with wings of gold, and these long arrows washed with oil
and looking like snakes freed from their sloughs. Behold these beautiful
lances decked with gold lying scattered about, and these coats of mail, O
Bharata, adorned with gold and fallen off from the bodies of the
warriors. Behold these spears embellished with gold, these darts adorned
with the same metal, and these huge maces twined round with threads of
gold, and cords of hemp. Behold these swords decked with bright gold and
these axes adorned with the same, and these battle-axes equipped with
gold-decked handles. Behold also these spiked clubs, these short arrows,
these Bhusundis, and these Kanapas; these iron Kuntas lying around, and
these heavy Mushalas. These victory-longing warriors endued with great
activity and armed with diverse weapons, though dead, still seem to be
quick with life. Behold those thousands of warriors, their limbs crushed
with maces, and heads split with Mushalas or smashed and trod by
elephants and steeds and cars. O slayer of foes, the field of battle is
strewn with the bodies of men and elephants and steeds, deprived of life,
dreadfully mangled with shafts and darts and swords and lances and
scimitars and axes and spears and Nakharas and bludgeons, and bathed in
streams of blood. Strewn with arms smeared with sandal-paste and decked
with Angadas and graced with auspicious indications and cased in leathern
fences and adorned with Keyuras, the Earth looks resplendent, O Bharata.
Strewn also with hands having fingers cased in fences, decked with
ornaments, and lopped off from arms, and with severed thighs looking like
the trunks of elephants, of heroes endued with great activity and with
heads adorned with earrings and headgears set with gems, (the Earth looks
exceedingly beautiful). Behold those beautiful cars, decked with golden
bells, broken in diverse ways. Behold those numerous steeds bathed in
blood, those bottoms of cars and long quivers, and diverse kinds of
standards and banners and those huge conchs, of the combatants, and those
yak-tails perfectly white, and those elephants with tongues lolling out
and lying on the field like hills, and those beautiful with triumphal
banners, and those slain elephant-warriors, and those rich coverlets,
each consisting of one piece of blanket, for the backs of those huge
beasts, and those beautiful and variegated and torn blankets, and those
numerous bells loosened from the bodies of elephants and broken into
fragments by those falling creatures, and those hooks with handles set
with stones of lapis lazuli fallen upon the Earth, and those ornamental
yokes of steeds, and those armours set with diamonds for their breasts
and those rich cloths, adorned with gold and tied to the ends of the
standards borne by horsemen, and those variegated coverlets and housings
and Ranku skins, set with brilliant gems and inlaid with gold, for the
backs of steeds and fallen on the ground, and those large diamonds
adorning the head-gears of kings, and those beautiful necklaces of gold,
and those umbrellas displaced from their positions, and those yak-tails
and fans. Behold the earth strewn with faces adorned with earrings bright
as the moon or stars, and embellished with well-cut beards, and each
looking like the full moon. The earth, strewn with those faces looking
like lilies and lotuses, resembles a lake adorned with a dense assemblage
of lilies and lotuses. Behold, the earth possessing the effulgence of the
bright moon and diversified as if with myriads of stars, looks like the
autumnal firmament bespangled with stellar lights. O Arjuna, these feats
that have been achieved by thee in great battle today are, indeed, worthy
of thee or of the chief of the celestials himself in heaven." Even thus
did Krishna show the field of battle unto Arjuna. And while returning
(from the field to their camp), they heard a loud noise in the army of
Duryodhana. Indeed the uproar that was heard consisted of the blare of
conchs and the beat of cymbals and drums and Patahas and the clatter of
car wheels, the neighing of steeds, the grunt of elephants, and the
fierce clash of weapons. Penetrating into that force by the aid of his
steeds possessing the fleetness of the wind, Krishna became filled with
wonder upon beholding the army grinded by Pandya. Like Yama himself
slaying creatures whose lives have run out, Pandya, that foremost of
warriors skilled in shafts and weapons, was destroying crowds of foes by
means of diverse kinds of shafts. Piercing the bodies of the elephants
and steeds and men with sharp shafts, that foremost of smiters overthrew
and deprived them of life. Cutting off with his own shafts the diverse
weapons hurled at him by many foremost of foes, Pandya slew his enemies
like Sakra (Indra) destroying the Danavas.'"



20

"Dhritarashtra said, 'Thou didst mention to me before the name of Pandya,
that hero of world-wide celebrity, but his feats, O Sanjaya, in battle
have never been narrated by thee. Tell me today in detail of the prowess
of that great hero, his skill, spirit, and energy, the measure of his
might, and his pride.'

"Sanjaya said, 'Bhishma and Drona and Kripa and Drona's son and Karna and
Arjuna and Janardana, those thorough masters of the science of weapons,
are regarded by thee as the foremost of car-warriors. Know, however, that
Pandya regarded himself superior to all these foremost of car-warriors in
energy. Indeed he never regarded any one amongst the kings as equal to
himself. He never admitted his equality with Karna and Bhishma. Nor did
he admit within his heart that he was inferior in any respect to Vasudeva
or Arjuna. Even such was Pandya, that foremost of kings, that first of
wielder of weapons. Filled with rage like the Destroyer himself, Pandya
at the time was slaughtering the army of Karna. That force, swelling with
cars and steeds and teeming with foremost of foot-soldiers, struck by
Pandya, began to turn round like the potter's wheel. Like the wind
dispersing a mass of congregated clouds, Pandya, with his well shot
arrows, began to disperse that force, destroying its steeds and drivers
and standards and cars and causing its weapons and elephants to fall
down. Like the splitter of mountains striking down mountains with his
thunder, Pandya overthrew elephants with their riders, having previously
cut down the standards and banners and weapons with which they were
armed, as also the foot-soldiers that protected those beasts. And he cut
down horses, and horsemen with their darts and lances and quivers.
Mangling with his shafts the Pulindas, the Khasas, the Bahlikas, the
Nishadas, the Andhakas, the Tanganas, the Southerners, and the Bhojas,
all of whom, endued with great courage, were unyielding and obstinate in
battle, and divesting them of their weapons and coats of mail, Pandya
deprived them of their lives. Beholding Pandya destroying with his shafts
in battle that host consisting of four kinds of forces, the son of Drona
fearlessly proceeded towards that fearless warrior. Fearlessly addressing
in sweet words that warrior who then seemed to dance on his car, Drona's
son, that foremost of smiters, smiling the while, summoned him and said,
"O king, O thou with eyes like the petals of the lotus, thy birth is
noble and learning great. Of celebrated might and prowess, thou
resemblest Indra himself. Stretching with thy two massive arms the bow
held by thee and whose large string is attached to thy grasp, thou
lookest beautiful like a mass of congregated clouds as thou pourest over
thy foes thick showers of impetuous shafts. I do not see anybody save
myself that can be a match for thee in battle. Alone thou crushest
numerous cars and elephants and foot-soldiers and steeds, like the
fearless lion of terrible might crushing herds of deer in the forest.
Making the welkin and the Earth resound with the loud clatter of thy
car-wheels thou lookest resplendent, O king, like a crop-destroying
autumnal cloud of loud roars. Taking out of thy quiver and shooting thy
keen shafts resembling snakes of virulent poison fight with myself only,
like (the asura) Andhaka fighting with the three-eyed deity." Thus
addressed, Pandya answered, "So be it." Then Drona's son, telling him
"Strike," assailed him with vigour. In return, Malayadhwaja pierced the
son of Drona with a barbed arrow. Then Drona's son, that best of
preceptors, smiling the while, struck Pandya with some fierce arrows,
capable of penetrating into the very vitals and resembling flames of
fire. Then Ashvatthama once more sped at his foe some other large arrows
equipped with keen points and capable of piercing the very vitals,
causing them to course through the welkin with the ten different kinds of
motion. Pandya, however, with nine shafts of his cut off all those arrows
of his antagonist. With four other shafts he afflicted the four steeds of
his foe, at which they speedily expired. Having then, with his sharp
shafts, cut off the arrows of Drona's son, Pandya then cut off the
stretched bow-string of Ashvatthama, endued with the splendour of the
sun. Then Drona's son, that slayer of foes, stringing his unstringed bow,
and seeing that his men had meanwhile speedily yoked other excellent
steeds unto his car, sped thousands of arrows (at his foe). By this, that
regenerate one filled the entire welkin and the ten points of the compass
with his arrows. Although knowing that those shafts of the high-souled
son of Drona employed in shooting were really inexhaustible, yet Pandya,
that bull among men, cut them all into pieces. The antagonist of
Ashvatthama, carefully cutting off all those shafts shot by the latter,
then slew with his own keen shafts the two protectors of the latter's car
wheels in that encounter. Beholding the lightness of hand displayed by
his foe, Drona's son, drawing his bow to a circle, began to shoot his
arrows like a mass of clouds pouring torrents of rain. During that space
of time, O sire, which consisted only of the eighth part of a day, the
son of Drona shot as many arrows as were carried on eight carts each
drawn by eight bullocks. Almost all those men that then beheld
Ashvatthama, who at the time looked like the Destroyer himself filled
with rage, or rather the Destroyer of the Destroyer, lost their senses.
Like a mass of clouds at the close of summer drenching with torrents of
rain, the Earth with her mountains and trees, the preceptor's son poured
on that hostile force his arrowy shower. Baffling with the Vayavya weapon
that unbearable shower of arrows shot by the Ashvatthama-cloud, the
Pandya-wind, filled with joy, uttered loud roars. Then Drona's son
cutting off the standard, smeared with sandal-paste and other perfumed
unguents and bearing the device of the Malaya mountain on it, of the
roaring Pandya, slew the four steeds of the latter. Slaying then his
foe's driver with a single shaft, and cutting off with a crescent-shaped
arrow the bow also of that warrior whose twang resembled the roar of the
clouds, Ashvatthama cut off his enemy's car into minute fragments.
Checking with the weapons those of his enemy, and cutting off all the
weapons of the latter, Drona's son, although he obtained the opportunity
to do his enemy the crowning evil, still slew him not, from desire of
battling with him for some time more. Meanwhile Karna rushed against the
large elephant force of the Pandavas and began to rout and destroy it.
Depriving car-warriors of their cars, he struck elephants and steeds and
human warriors, O Bharata, with innumerable straight shafts. That mighty
bowman, the son of Drona, although he had made Pandya, that slayer of
foes and foremost of car-warriors, carless, yet he did not slay him from
desire of fight. At that time a huge riderless elephant with large tusks,
well-equipped with all utensils of war, treading with speed, endued with
great might, quick to proceed against any enemy, struck with
Ashvatthama's shafts, advanced towards the direction of Pandya with great
impetuosity, roaring against a hostile compeer. Beholding that prince of
elephants, looking like a cloven mountain summit, Pandya, who was well
acquainted with the method of fighting from the neck of an elephant,
quickly ascended that beast like a lion springing with a loud roar to the
top of a mountain summit. Then that lord of the prince of mountains,
striking the elephant with the hook, and inspired with rage, and with
that cool care for which he was distinguished in hurling weapons with
great force, quickly sped a lance, bright as Surya's rays, at the
preceptor's son and uttered a loud shout. Repeatedly shouting in joy,
"Thou art slain, Thou art slain!" Pandya (with that lance) crushed to
pieces the diadem of Drona's son adorned with foremost of jewels and
diamonds of the first water and the very best kind of gold and excellent
cloth and strings of pearls. That diadem possessed of the splendour of
the Sun, the Moon, the planets, or the fire, in consequence of the
violence of the stroke, fell down, split into fragments, like a mountain
summit riven by Indra's thunder, falling down on the Earth with great
noise. At this, Ashvatthama blazed up with exceeding rage like a prince
of snakes struck with the foot, and took up four and ten shafts capable
of inflicting great pain upon foes and each resembling the Destroyer's
rod. With five of those shafts he cut off the four feet and the trunk of
his adversary's elephant, and with three the two arms and the head of the
king, and with six he slew the six mighty car-warriors, endued with great
effulgence, that followed king Pandya. Those long and well-rounded arms
of the king, smeared with excellent sandal-paste, and adorned with gold
and pearls and gems and diamonds falling upon the Earth, began to writhe
like a couple of snakes slain by Garuda. That head also, graced with a
face bright as the full Moon, having a prominent nose and a pair of large
eyes, red as copper with rage, adorned with earrings, falling on the
ground, looked resplendent like the Moon himself between two bright
constellations. The elephant, thus cut off by that skilful warrior into
six pieces with those five shafts and the king into four pieces with
those three shafts lay divided in all into ten pieces that looked like
the sacrificial butter distributed into ten portions intended for the ten
deities. Having cut off numerous steeds and men and elephants into pieces
and offered them as food into the Rakshasas, king Pandya was thus quieted
by Drona's son with his shafts like a blazing fire in a crematorium,
extinguished with water after it has received a libation in the shape of
a lifeless body. Then like the chief of the celestials joyfully
worshipping Vishnu after the subjugation of the Asura Vali, thy son, the
king, accompanied by his brothers approaching the preceptor's son
worshipped with great respect that warrior who is a complete master of
the science of arms, after indeed, he had completed the task he had
undertaken."

Copyright (c) 2007. bestextbooks.com. All rights reserved.

Mary Roberts Rinehart - "The Truce of God"

Moses Grandy - "Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America"

William Carleton - "The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain"

S. D. Gordon - "Quiet Talks on John's Gospel"

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.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Despite red faces over its fictional content, the Holocaust memoir that impressed Oprah Winfrey is still to be published
When Argentinian doctor Che Guevara and Cuban lawyer Fidel Castro met in Mexico City, it was the beginning of a friendship that would change the world. Simon Reid-Henry talks about the contrasting personalities of the leading men in his groundbreaking dual biography, Fidel and Che