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Ballads originally became popular in the late medieval period, and were designed to be sung and danced to: the word ‘ballad’ is derived from the Latin balar, ‘to dance’. The ballad form is often used to tell a story: a tragic love story, for instance, or else a tale of adventure and high romance.
- Ballad Definition
- Ballad Examples
- Why Do Writers Choose to Write Ballads?
- Other Helpful Ballad Resources
What is a ballad? Here’s a quick and simple definition: Some additional key details about ballads: 1. The ballad is one of the oldest poetic forms in English. 2. There are so many different types of ballad that giving one strict definition to fit all the variations would be nearly impossible. The simplest way to think of a ballad is as a song or po...
The following examples of ballads show several types of variations of the form. To help highlight the structure of each example, we've highlighted all "A" rhymes in green, "B" rhymes in red, and "C" rhymes in yellow.
As the ballad has undergone major shifts in form and content throughout its centuries-long history, the answer to why poets write ballads question differs, primarily based on the era in which a ballad was written. Folk ballads—the oldest form of ballad—were generally transmitted orally, so the repetitive form of the ballad was helpful for memorizat...
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Examples of Ballads in Literature. As a literary device and form of narrative verse, balladry represents a melodious form of storytelling. Therefore, the ballad has greatly impacted poetry and poets across time. Here are some examples of ballads in literature and the lasting value of these works.
Examples of Ballads in Literature. Example 1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the best examples of a ballad. The poem is very strictly structured in terms of meter and rhyme, and tells a story of an old sailor who stops people on their way into a party.
Ballad Definition. Ballad (BAH-lihd) poetry is a type of narrative poetry that is written to be sung. It’s a story that can be set to music, so some sort of rhythm or musicality is required. These are the only two absolute qualifications.
Definition of Ballad. A ballad is a narrative poem that originally was set to music. Ballads were first created in medieval France, and the word ballad comes from the French term chanson balladée, which means “dancing song.”. Ballads then became popular in Great Britain, and remained so until the nineteenth century.
The earliest example of a ballad form in England is ‘Judas’ which is included in a 13th-century manuscript. It tells the story of Christ giving Judas 30 pieces of silver to buy food for the apostles. But, when Judas is on his way to the market, he is intercepted by his sister who steals his money.
