The ''Ballade des pendus'', literally "ballad of the hanged", also known as ''Epitaphe Villon'' or ''Frères humains'', is the best-known poem by

François Villon François Villon (Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ex ...

. It is commonly acknowledged, although not clearly established, that Villon wrote it in prison while he awaited his execution. It was published posthumously in 1489 by

Antoine Vérard Antoine Vérard (active 1485–1512) was a late 15th-century and early 16th-century French publisher, bookmaker and bookseller. Life The colophon of a 1485 edition of the ''Catholicon abbreviatum'', the first French-Latin dictionary, which da ...

Form

The poem is in the form of a large

ballade Ballad is a form of narrative poetry, often put to music, or a type of sentimental love song in modern popular music. Ballad or Ballade may also refer to: Music Genres and forms * Ballade (classical music), a musical setting of a literary ballad ...

. *All lines have 10

syllables A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

. *The last line is the same in each

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

. *The first three stanzas have 10 lines, and the last has 5 lines. *Each stanza has the same rhyme scheme. *There are several

enjambment In poetry, enjambment ( or ; from the French ''enjamber'') is incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning 'runs over' or 'steps over' from one poetic line to the next, without punctuation. Lines without enjambment are end-stopped. The or ...

Text of the ballad with English translation

The translation deliberately follows the original as closely as possible.

References

External links

* Livres audio mp3 gratuit
'Ballade des pendus'
de François Villon - (''Association'' Audiocité). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballade Des Pendus 1489 works French poems Poetry by François Villon