Try “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes (corrected by Jeruba.) Very rhythmic and a good story.

^^ Different Alfred. Alfred Noyes.

The Highwayman.

@Jeruba You’re right. I wasn’t 100% sure on that and should have checked it. Corrected now.

“The Ballad of Ira Hays” by Peter La Farge.

Or how about “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost? Not sure of the time length however but you should be ok.

“Mending Wall” is fairly short but “The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost is quite long.

Here’s a good one if you fancy a martial tale. (And I didn’t know this except from the Al Stewart song, so thanks for prompting me to find it.)

I agree with The Highwayman.

If you’d like to hear it in music form, Loreena McKennitt performs a version – but she does leave out a few stanzas. Her musical version is a good 15 minutes plus. If you find the full version spoken is too long, you might look into her trimmed down version to make the time limit.

Or you could go for something Australian.

Banjo Patterson’s The Silent Shearer

Or perhaps Henry Lawson’s The Ballad of the Drover.

The Lady of Shalott is a good one. You could cut out a few verses to trim it to length.

Or—just in case half your classmates also pick the deservedly popular “The Highwayman,” how about this old favorite of mine? A Ballad of Hell. Good dramatic potential, too—especially if you can arrange ahead for a few classmates to help you with the last line.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is 6½ minutes. Plus you get to act out Gitche-Gumee.