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Ballad

A ballad is a short narrative folk song that originated in Europe during the late Middle Ages and continues to exist in communities with limited exposure to mass media. Various countries, including England, Scotland, France, and Spain, have rich collections of ballads, though their formal characteristics differ across cultures. Today, ballads are often associated with themes of nostalgia, community histories, and romantic love in contemporary literature and music.

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9 views2 pages

Ballad

A ballad is a short narrative folk song that originated in Europe during the late Middle Ages and continues to exist in communities with limited exposure to mass media. Various countries, including England, Scotland, France, and Spain, have rich collections of ballads, though their formal characteristics differ across cultures. Today, ballads are often associated with themes of nostalgia, community histories, and romantic love in contemporary literature and music.

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febs edits
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ballad

narrative song
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Last Updated: May 8, 2025 • Article History


Key People:

Barry Sadler

Johnny Mathis

Leonard Cohen

Stephen Foster

Charles Kingsley
Related Topics:

ballad revival

individualist school

historical ballad

folk ballad
communal school
ballad, short narrative folk song, whose distinctive style crystallized
in Europe in the late Middle Ages and persists to the present day
in communities where literacy, urban contacts, and mass media have little
affected the habit of folk singing. The term ballad is also applied to any
narrative composition suitable for singing.
France, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Greece, and Spain, as well
as England and Scotland, possess impressive ballad collections. At least
one-third of the 300 extant English and Scottish ballads have counterparts
in one or several of these continental balladries, particularly those
of Scandinavia. In no two language areas, however, are the formal
characteristics of the ballad identical. For example, British and American
ballads are invariably rhymed and strophic (i.e., divided into stanzas); the
Russian ballads known as byliny and almost all Balkan ballads are
unrhymed and unstrophic; and, though the romances of Spain, as their
ballads are called, and the Danish viser are alike in
using assonance instead of rhyme, the Spanish ballads are generally
unstrophic while the Danish are strophic, parcelled into either quatrains or
couplets.
In reception, however, the ballad’s technique and form are often
subordinated to its presentation of events—especially ones presented as
historical, whether factually accurate or not—and their significance to the
audience. The ballad also plays a critical role in the creation and
maintenance of distinct national cultures. In
contemporary literature and music, the ballad is primarily defined by its
commitment to nostalgia, community histories, and romantic love.

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