Ballad: History and types

 

What is Ballad?

§      Ballad is a type of lyric poem also known as folk song.

§      Ballad existed in oral form in literature in ancient times.

§  I  It is an ancient form of storytelling.

§        Miniature epic: As it deals the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters

§     The Term “Ballad” has been derived from the medieval French word “Balladee” or Ballade”, which means “Dance Songs”

§       The word derives from the late Latin and Italian ballare which means ‘to dance’

§         Earliest ballads were produced in Spain and France.

§       Ballads are expressions of romantic love, often telling the story of poet meeting and falling in love with his beloved.

§      Usually written in iambic tri or tetrameter. 1^st and 3^rd line Tetrameter and 2^nd and 4^th lines have Tri-meter.

§         Ballads are written in Quatrains, 2^nd and 4^th line rhyme together e.g:

The horse | fair Ann | et rode | upon | (A)

He amb | led like | the wind |, (B)

With sil | ver he | was shod | before, (C)

With burn | ing gold | behind |. (B)

§      It is a short narrative poem which often tells a story.

§        Language is simple or common language.

§        It tells religious, mythological, historical or war stories.

§         In ballad, we have characters and plot.

§     Dialogues give ballad a dramatic touch.

§     It has a musical quality and is meant to be sung.                                       

Ballad Types

Folk or Traditional:

      It is a kind of ballad with no written form. It is a verbal sort of poetry that was passed down to generation to generation orally.

§     Anonymous: when authorship is not known

The Literary Ballad

§      It is an imitation of a traditional ballad but the difference lies that a Literary ballad has ownership or it author is known while traditional ballad author is unknown

Broadside Ballads

These ballads were meant to be printed on broadsides of paper for sale in the streets.

History of Collection

®    Early collections of English ballads were made by Samuel Pepys (1633–1703)

®  The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (sometimes known as Reliques of Ancient Poetry or simply Percy's Reliques) is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765.

®    Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border published by Sir Walter Scott of Scotland.

® In 1860, Prof. James Child published an eight-volume collection entitled English and Scottish Ballads.

Some important ballads literary world:

Robin hood and the Curtail Friar, Chevy Chase, The Nut Browns Maid, Sir Patrick Spens.