ABSTRACT
Cliche Bibliotheque Nationale de France-Paris.
The ballette is a structurally simple form derived, as its name implies, from dance; it is in origin a song intended to accompany dancing in a round. It opens with a brief refrain, which then circles back after every stanza. The stanzas usually number no more than three; each contains three relatively short, monorhymed (or assonanced) verses followed by a shorter verse linked by rhyme to the refrain. This characteristic structure-with its brevity, lightness, swift movement-is well illustrated in the first of our two examples, "Por coi me bait mes marls": 7 A 2B 7a 7a 7a 2b 7A 2B 7c 7c 7c 2b 7A 2B 7d 7d 7d 2b 7A 2B.
