Ballad essay

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Ballad

Ballad is a short story in verse. It is one of the oldest form in literature. A ballad is sung from village to village with the accompaniment of a harp or a fiddle, by strolling singers or bands of singers. The subjects dealt are adventure,  family disaster, feud, love and war, and life. The story is tragic and fierce with supernatural elements.

I) The poem is written in Ballad Measure (abcb).

II) The tale opens abruptly without any introduction.

III) The Ballad is impersonal in treatment. The writer’s identity or personality is never revealed.

IV) The same lines are repeated from stanza to stanza as a refrain.

Kinds of Ballad

I) Ballad of Growth or Authentic Ballad:  It is a Ballad of unknown authorship. This type of ballad is primitive in existence and has grown naturally. Eg: Chevy Chase, The Wife of Usher’s Well.

II)  Ballad of Art or Literary Ballad: This kind of ballad as Hudson says is the " literary development of the traditional form". Eg: Coleridge Ancient Mariner and Keats La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

 

 


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