Longfellow’s "The Wreck of the Hesperus" is based loosely upon an actual shipwreck in December 1839. It is a poem of eighty-eight lines arranged in twenty-­two ballad stanzas. A Handbook of Literature defines the ballad in the following terms: single exciting episode, current event, simple narrative form, impersonal material and tone, supernatural presences, strong themes (physical courage, love), common people, domestic slant, abrupt transitions, slight characterization and description, dialogue, tragic denouement, and incremental repetition. The ballad stanza, four lines rhyming abcb, with the first and third lines carrying four accented syllables and the second and fourth carrying three, can be aptly illustrated by a passage (stanza 12) from "The Wreck of the Hesperus." "O father! I see a gleaming light,

O say, what may it be?"

But the father answered never a word,

A frozen corpse was he.

Longfellow's story is simple but moving. Yours should be too. You may choose any topic you'd like, just make sure it is school appropriate. You should have at least five stanzas of four lines each (20 lines), following some of the requirements above, as well as the rhyming pattern as indicated. We will share these in small groups later. Have fun!