BALLADS
MEDIEVAL & MODERN
BALLAD HISTORY
• HISTORY
• Late Medieval Europe (12001400s).
• Began as a type of folk song that
told an exciting story.
• Francis James Child, wrote the
book The English and Scottish
Ballads, which was a compilation
of the ballads of the time.
• Robin Hood was a ballad
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
1) A ballad…
• tells a simple, dramatic story, typically in
third person narrative.
• Usually begins at a catastrophe
• ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a
combination of these
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
2) A ballad…
• focuses on actions and dialogue of a
single crucial episode or situation rather
than characteristics and narration.
• Little attention to the setting and character
descriptions
• Plain language
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
3) A ballad…
• A ballad has a simple metrical structure
and sentence structure. That means the
lines have roughly the same amount of
syllables
I went to the market today
1
2
3
4
5-6
7-8
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
4) A ballad…
• is sung to a modal melody. (rhythmical
pattern)
• Heavy amount of repetition, refrains and
parallelism, which may be a way of
discharging emotion, or to serve as a
mnemonic technique.
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
5) A ballad…
• is of the oral tradition,
passed down by word of
mouth. Therefore, it
undergoes changes and
is of anonymous
authorship.
• Originally circulated
among “illiterate” or
“semi-literate” groups
BALLAD 5 CHARACTERISTICS
DETAILS, DETAILS
Rhyme: Traditionally, the second
and fourth lines rhyme in each
quatrain
Structure: Varied, but most often a
series of quatrains and incremental
repetition.
Measure/Beat: Typically iambic
tetrameter and iambic pentameter on
alternating lines
Common Themes: Love, tragedy,
religion, politics, triumph, loss
Sample Stanza:
The wind cauld blew south and north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife,
“Get out and bar the door.”
BALLAD SPECIAL TERMINOLOGY
Direct Address – construction in which the speaker
directly addresses another person (who is usually in
the poem as well)
Example from “Lord Randall”:
"Oh where ha'e ye been, Lord Randall my son?
O where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?"
"I ha'e been to the wild wood: mother, make my bed soon,
For I’m weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."
MEDIEVAL LANGUAGE
• DON’T RECOGNIZE A WORD?
• Look at the bottom under definitions
OR
• Say the word out loud to yourself take an
educated guess as to what the words/phrases
mean. Often it is just spelled differently.
• Ex. “do ye take auf the old man’s beard?”
• WORDS WITH APOSTROPHES
• Apostrophes mean letters are missing!
• “the first word whae’er shou’d speak”
~GET UP & BAR THE DOOR ~
ANONYMOUS
•
1 It fell about the Martinmas time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make,
And she ’s boil’d them in the pan.
•
5 The wind cauld blew south and north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife,
“Get out and bar the door.”
•
“My hand is in my hussyfskap,
10 Goodman, as ye may see;
An’ it shou’dna be barr’d this hundred year,
It ’s no be barr’d for me.”
•
They made a paction ’tween them two,
They made it firm and sure,
15 That the first word whae’er shou’d speak,
Shou’d rise and bar the door.
•
Then by there came two gentlemen,
At twelve o’ clock at night,
And they could neither see house nor hall,
20 Nor coal nor candle-light.
•
“Now whether is this a rich man’s house,
Or whether is it a poor?”
But ne’er a word would any o’ them speak,
For barring of the door.
•
25 And first they ate the white puddings,
And then they ate the black.
Tho’ muckle thought the goodwife to hersel’
Yet ne’er a word she spake.
•
Then said the one unto the other,
30 “Here, man, take ye my knife;
Do ye take auf the old man’s beard,
And I’ll kiss the goodwife.”
•
“But there’s no water in the house,
And what shall we do than?”
35 “What ails ye at the pudding-broo,
That boils into the pan?”
•
O up then started our goodman,
An angry man was he:
“Will ye kiss my wife before my eyes,
40 And scald me wi’ pudding-bree?”
•
Then up and started our goodwife,
Goed three skips on the floor:
“Goodman, you’ve spoken the foremost word!
Get up and bar the door.”
~GET UP & BAR THE DOOR ~
ANONYMOUS
•
1 It fell about the Martinmas time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make,
And she ’s boil’d them in the pan.
•
25 And first they ate the white puddings,
And then they ate the black.
Tho’ muckle thought the goodwife to hersel’
Yet ne’er a word she spake.
•
5 The wind cauld blew south and north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife,
“Get out and bar the door.”
•
Then said the one unto the other,
30 “Here, man, take ye my knife;
Do ye take off the old man’s beard,
And I’ll kiss the goodwife.”
•
“My hand is in my hussyfskap,
10 Goodman, as ye may see;
An’ it shou’dna be barr’d this hundred year,
It ’s no be barr’d for me.”
•
“But there’s no water in the house,
And what shall we do than?”
35 “What ails ye at the pudding-broo,
That boils into the pan?”
•
O up then started our goodman,
An angry man was he:
“Will ye kiss my wife before my eyes,
40 And scald me wi’ pudding-bree?”
•
Then up and started our goodwife,
Goed three skips on the floor:
“Goodman, you’ve spoken the foremost word!
Get up and bar the door.”
•
They made a paction ’tween them two,
They made it firm and sure,
15 That the first word whae’er shou’d speak,
Shou’d rise and bar the door.
•
Then by there came two gentlemen,
At twelve o’ clock at night,
And they could neither see house nor hall,
20 Nor coal nor candle-light.
•
“Now whether is this a rich man’s house,
Or whether is it a poor?”
But ne’er a word would any o’ them speak,
For barring of the door.
IS IT A BALLAD?
1) Quatrains (4 line stanzas)
2) Lines 2 & 4 rhyme (in blue)
3) Tells a story & uses direct address
~GET UP & BAR THE DOOR ~
ANONYMOUS
COMPREHENSION:
• What does the goodman want the goodwife to
do and why? What is the goodwife’s reply to this
request?
• How do they resolve their problem?
INTERPRETATION/ANALYSIS:
• What does the stranger mean when he suggest
taking “aff the auld man’s beard?”
• What serious point does this humorous ballad
make?
• What words best describe the goodwife and the
goodman in the poem?
DEBATEALBE THOUGHTS:
• Who is more foolish – the husband or the wife?
• Can people be hurt by stubbornness (their own or
someone else’s)? Give an example.
• Can we relate this poem to couples today?
TWA CORBIES (TWO RAVENS)
As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane.
The one unto the tither did say,
“Whar sall we go and dine the day?”
“Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I’ll pike out his bonny blue e’en;
Wi’ a lock o’ his golden hair
We’ll thatch our nest when it grows bare.
“In behint that auld fail dlyke,
I wont there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody knows that he lies there
But his hawk, his hound and his lady fair.”
“Many a one for him makes mane,
But none sall care whar he is gane.
O’er his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sall blow for evermair.”
“His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady’s ta’en anither mate,
So we may make our dinner sweet.