Ballad: Definition and Types

BALLAD: DEFINITION & TYPES:

Ballad is a type of lyric which is also known as folk song. Ballad existed in oral literature in the ancient times. It is an ancient form of telling stories. There are similarities between epic and ballad and so ballad is also termed as “Miniature epic”. 

Ballad, written in quatrains, is a short narrative poem which often tells a story. It narrates religious, mythological, historical or  war stories. It has characters, dialogues and plot line. Dialogues impart a dramatic touch to these poems. It has musical quality as it is meant to be sung. Ballad is usually written in iambic tri or tetrameter lines.

The term 'Ballad' derived from the medieval French word 'balladée' or 'ballade', which were originally "dance songs". The earliest ballads were produced in Spain and France during the 13th century. These ballads were expressions of romantic love, often telling the story of the poet meeting and falling in love with his beloved. 

In English literature, there are two types of ballads – Folk or Traditional Ballad and Literary Ballad. Folk (or traditional ballad) is a kind of ballad with no written form. It is a verbal sort of poetry that was passed down to generations through word of mouth. The Literary ballad is an imitation of the traditional ballad. The only difference between the two ballads is that there is no specific poet who writes folk ballads whereas literary ballads are written by specific poets.

John Keats, S.T. Coleridge, William Wordsworth and many others have written ballads. John Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, Thomas Hardy’s ‘During Wind and Rain’ and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Annabel Lee’ are some of the most popular literary ballads in English literature.

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