THE BALLAD
Ballads were anonymous oral poems composed in a simple language by unknown and unlettered authors for
an illiterate audience.
They probably also existed in Anglo-Saxon times but it is only in the Middle Ages that they were first written
down, so when we think of ballads we usually mean ‘medieval ballads’.
They were called ballads because they were probably accompanied by music and dances. Ballad originally
meant a song with dance.
The earliest British ballads are conventionally traced to the 13th century, but some are certainly older.
They were modified by oral transmission because they were handed down by word of mouth.
The ballad does not come from France but from Scotland and northern England so it is an authentic English
genre.
Their language differs from modern English. Best ballads come from Scotland and are composed in a dialect
which we find a little strange.
Only in 1765 Bishop Percy collected them in ‘Reliques of Ancient English Poetry’.
Sir W. Scott (1771-1832) spent 10 years transcribing ballads from the lips of the ballads singers themselves.
Because of their folk character for centuries they were considered an inferior literary genre,
but in the Romantic period they began to be imitated by single authors.
FEATURES
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Ballads are narrative poems: they tell a story directly through a simple language: the story is simple
and frequently dramatic

the ballads tell the story in flashes: each stanza describes a different scene

the historical references are very vague. Actions and events are drawn from European folklore and
similar stories can be identidied in German or in Italian tales. As it happens with fairy tales the same
story often exist in many versions.
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LANGUAGE
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the language and the metre are simple: they use a simple vocabulary and describe few objects.
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the syntax is simple: they had to be immediately understood by listeners, not by readers: therefore
they have and-clauses rather than if-clauses.

the structure is often in the form of questions and answers

there is no final comment: the poem has a purely narrative purpose

the tone is detached and objective

there is no psychological analysis

it is usually composed of simple, easily memorised stanzas of 2-4 lines. The basic ballad stanza is a
quatrain rhyming a b c b but there is no standardised ballad form.

the style is descriptive: no symbolism, no abstractions but concrete terms

there are many assonance, allitteration and internal rhymes

they use repetitions, refrains and ‘incremental repetition’ (ripetizione che aggiunge):
repetition of some sentences or a whole stanza with slight modification

there are one or more climaxes
(a shocking episode presented at the ballad’s critical moment, quite near its conclusion)
in Lord Randal there are two.
CONTENT
The most popular subjects are sex and violence.

love is always tragic, marred by jealousy and ambition and often ends in murder
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religion with legends of Christ and the saints
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supernatural (ghosts)
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revenge

border ballads
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about family rivalries in the border country

Robin Hood cycle: ballads often describe outlaws against oppression. The Robin Hood ballads come
from central England are less tragic and more humorous.

the nobles were described as unhappy and sad
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