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- The stanzas of a typical ballad follow the rhyme scheme "ABCB." For instance, here's the first stanza of a famous Irish folk ballad entitled "Tam Lin" that exemplifies the traditional ABCB rhyme scheme. O I forbid you, maidens all, That wear gold in your hair, To come or go by Carterhaugh, For young Tam Lin is there.
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Below, we introduce and discuss eight of the finest examples of the ballad in poetry. 1. Anonymous, ‘ The Unquiet Grave ’. ‘I’ll do as much for my true-love. As any young man may; I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave. For a twelvemonth and a day.’.
- 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...
- “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats. One of the oldest known English ballad poems, “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” means “The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy.
- “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The longest poem by Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” starts with an elderly sailor stopping a man on the way to a wedding.
- “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe weaves the tale of the lovely Annabel Lee. This love song is tragic because Annabel Lee dies, leaving behind her lover to mourn her life.
- “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns. This lyrical ballad compares love to a rose, and Bob Dylan once called it his “single biggest inspiration.” Because it has lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter woven throughout, it fits the literary ballad tradition, even though it is not a narrative poem.
Ballads, usually have thirteen lines with varying rhyme schemes, and often have frequent rhyme. This rhyming makes the poem more musical and memorable. Plus, as folk songs, ballads are usually suitable lyrics for dance tunes.
A ballade is a musical verse form that originated in medieval and Renaissance French poetry. These poems use a rhyme scheme of ABABBCBC for the first three stanzas and BCBC in the final stanza. They also use a refrain in the last line of every stanza.
Ballad poetry bridges spoken traditions and written narratives, resonating through history. Structural elements like rhyme and meter ensure ballads are memorable and lyrical. The influence of ballad poetry persists in current storytelling and musical expressions. Related: For more, check out our article on Examples of Free Verse Poetry here.
