Essay on "Ballad"_Literary Forms & Criticism
Literary Forms & Criticism
Unit-I
Poetry
“Ballad”
Introduction
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.
Evolution
of Ballad
The communal school of thought and Individualists school of
thought, have dominated the world of ballad through its development.
Communalists believe that the evolution of the ballad was a result of the
joined and shared literary endeavors of many people. Individualists negate
this approach to the extent that they consider the later development as a
modification of the archetype. Most of the ballad examples in ancient times
used to be passed to the next generation through oral traditions. This is
because there was no language in which to write them down. However, in the
modern world, the preservation and transmission of such literary treasures has
become easier. The availability of advanced technology and common languages has
not only improved the documentation but the accessibility of these resources
for people in every part of the world, as well.
Distinguishing
Features of Ballads
Ballads, mostly rely on simple and easy-to-understand
language or dialect from its origin. Stories about hardships, tragedies, love
and romance are standard ingredients of ballads. This is irrespective of
geographical origins. Another conspicuous element of any ballad is the
recurrence of certain lines at regular intervals. Ballads can also be in
interrogative form with appropriate answers to every question they ask.
Definition
A form of verse, adapted for singing or recitation, which presents a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form. The Ballad arises out of folk literature.
Features of a Ballad
● It is a short story in verse, about the exploits
of some popular hero.
● The narration is dramatic.
● It is characterized by extreme simplicity.
● Question and answer method of narration is used.
● Always there are references to Christian Gods.
● Archaic words are used to present old world
atmosphere.
● Musical with elements of supernatural, magic and
mystery.
● It is written in the ballad stanza quatrains
with alternate rhymes.
● Lines and stanzas are often repeated.
● Ballad can be divided into two kinds of
categories.
1.
The popular ballad or the Ballad of growth.
2. The literary ballad.
Kinds of Ballads:
1. The Folk Ballad, which reached its height in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was composed anonymously and handed down orally, often in several different versions. Examples of folk ballads are the anthologies of Francis J. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-98), which contains 305 ballads.
2. Literary Ballad The literary ballad, consciously created by a poet in imitation of the folk ballad, makes use (sometimes with considerable freedom) of many of its devices and Conventions. Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Keats' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", and Wilde's "Ballad of Reading Gaol are all literary ballads.
3. Mock Ballad In the mock-ballad a comic theme is treated with tragic earnestness and so the serious is made ridiculous. William Cowper's John Gilpin is one of the finest examples of a mock-ballad in the English language.
Comment on the various kinds of ballads.
Introduction: Definition of Ballad
The Ballad may be defined as a short-story in verse. The word Ballad is derived from the word "Ballare" which means "to dance". Originally a ballad was a song with a strong narrative substance accompaniment of dancing. Often it was in the form of a sung to the dialogue. Thus the popular ballad had a strong dramatic element. Ballads generally narrated some local event. Love, battles, or heroic exploits, some supernatural incident or some local event are the chief themes of ballads.
Types of Ballad
1. Traditional Ballad
The first type is the popular ballad also called folk ballad or traditional ballad is that it is a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story. Ballads are thus the narrative species of folk which originate, and are songs, communicated orally, among mostly illiterate people. The initial version of a ballad was composed by a single author, but he or she is unknown. Each singer who learns and repeats an oral ballad introduce changes in both the text and the tune, it exists in many variant forms. Typically, the popular ballad is dramatic, condensed, and impersonal The narrator begins with the climatic episode, tells the story tersely in action and dialogue and tells it without self- reference or the expression of personal attitudes or feelings.
2. The Literary Ballad
The traditional or the popular ballad has
influenced the form and the style and engendered the literary ballad. Literary
ballad is a narrative poem written in deliberate imitation of the form,
language and spirit of the traditional ballad. In a literary ballad, the poet
captures the simplicity, the freshness and charm and the rapidity of movement
and the music and the melody. Bishop Percy's
"Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" influenced Scott, Wordsworth and
Coleridge to write literary ballads. Scott brought out an anthology
of medieval ballads. The Minstrelly of the Scottish Border in which one can
find the best ballads like "The Eve of St.
John" and the "The Lady of the Last minstrel".
Then one can find ballads like "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Keats'Ballad "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is "the best and finest literary ballad in English. In the Victorian age, Tennyson's "Lady of Shallot" was based on Arthurian legends with archaic language and repetition, alliteration and use of numbers and refrain. Browning's "Herve Riel" is a dramatic ballad. Rossetti's ballads "Sister Helen" and "Rose Mary" had medieval setting in the form of conversation. Matthew Arnold's "The Forsaken Merman" is also a ballad. T.S Eliot, W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden also exercised their hands in ballad form.
3. Mock Ballad
This form mocks the seriousness of the literary ballad, and the theme is comic rather than tragic. It has all the features of a literary ballad, but everything is given a humorous twist. The best examples of mock ballads are William Maginn's The Rime of the Ancient Waggoner and William Cowper's The Diverting History of John Gilpin'
4. Broadside Ballad
A broadside ballad that was printed on one side of a single sheet (called a "broad side"), dealt with a current event or person or issue, and was sung to a well-known tune. Beginning with the sixteenth century, these broadsides were sold in the streets or at county fairs in Great Britain. Most broadsides are sentimental in subject matter, containing stories of murder, execution or adventure.
5. Ballad stanza
The most common stanza form called the ballad
stanza is a quatrain in alternate four and three stress lines; usually only the
second and fourth lines rhyme.
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