Ballad | Literary Term | English Literature | Major English | Plus Two Level
Ballad
is a narrative folk song. It is a poem that tells a story, usually (but not
always) in four-line stanzas called quatrains. The ballad form
is enormously diverse. Nearly every culture on earth produces ballads, often in
the form of epic poems relating to the culture’s mythology. However, the word
“ballad” typically refers to the relatively short lyrical poems. The ballad is
traced back to the Middle Ages. Ballads were usually created by common people
and passed orally due to the illiteracy of the time. Subjects for ballads
include killings, feuds, important historical events, and rebellion. A common
stylistic element of the ballad is repetition. The ballad occurs in very early literature in nearly every
nation. Therefore, in addition to being entertaining, ballads can help us to
understand a given culture by showing us what values or norms that culture
deemed important.
For
example, in the international ballad 'Lord Randall', the young man is poisoned
by his sweetheart, and in 'Edward', the son commits patricide.
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