What makes a power ballad? How is it defined? And what band is credited for releasing the first rock song so emotional it demanded the new label?

A ballad is a type of poem that was traditionally set to music ... If the first syllable is stressed, as for example in ‘ha-ppy’, but not the second, it is called a trochee.

Until now, that has done nothing to undermine the enduring popularity of the ballad, which spent eight weeks at No 1 in the Billboard charts and remains a perennial if puzzling favourite at weddings.

Sonia Sanchez’s poetry is not just to be read—it is to be felt, experienced, and lived. Her work serves as both an artistic triumph and a cultural archive, documenting the beauty, pain, and power of ...