Introduction to Literature

Names of Group 2 : 1. Putra Saparingga                                                

                                   2. Ayu Fitri Jannah

                                    3. Sinta Novianti

                                    4. Dessy Indry Yana

Definition of Ballads

The word Ballad is of French provenance. It is a type of poetry or verse which was basically used in dance songs in the ancient France. Later on, during the late 16th and 17th century, it spread over the majority of European nations. Owing to its popularity and emotional appeal, it remained a powerful tool for poets and lyricists to prepare music in the form of lyrical ballads and earn a handsome income from it.

The art of Lyrical ballad as well as Ballad poetry lost popularity during the latter half of the 19th century. However, it is still read and listened to with interest in most of European countries including the British Isles.

A Ballad is a poem that tells a story, which are often used in songs because of their rhyme. A ballad is a poetic story, often a love story.

Example 1

“Tam Lin” is an example of a popular (traditional) ballad.

‘O I forbid you, maiden all,
That wears gold in your hair,
To come or go by Carterhaugh
For young Tam Lin is there.

Example 2

“Rime of an Ancient Mariner” is an example of a lyrical ballad.

‘Day after day, day after day
We stuck nor breathe, nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean’

Example 3

“Stagolee” is an example of a blue ballad with roots in American folk music.

Stagolee was a bad man
They go down in a coal mine one night
Robbed a coal mine
They’s gambling down there’

Example 4

“Drover” is an example of a bush ballad.

‘From the sunburnt plains of far off North Australia
Came a fella born to ride the wide brown land
Oh he grew up running wil
But soon by all was styled
As the country’s greatest-ever droving man’

Example 5

“The Ballad of Billy the Kid” is an example of a modern ballad.

‘From a town known Wheeling, Wes Virginia
Rode a boy with six gun in his hands
And his daring life crime
Made him a legend in his time
East and west of Rio Grande’

Example of a Ballad Poem

As I was walking down the street
I saw two people in secret meet
The second one said to the first
'You have some news to quench my thirst?'

'In behind the old, damp shed
There lies a noble man slain, dead
And no one knows he lies in strife
Except his dog and lonely wife

With master gone where no one knocks
His dog has left to chase a fox
His wife has found somebody new
His house is left for all to view

Though it's been empty for a while
We'll be warm and dry in half a mile
For now we can take comfort there
We'll flee the place when it grows bare

Many people knew the noble man
But none do care where he has gone
Over his grave, all do ignore
The wind shall blow forever more.'