POETRY : THE BALLAD
The ballad is a simple narrative poem in short stanzas telling a story. It may be called a short story in verse. Originally it was used to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument like the harp by strolling bands of singers. The word 'ballad' is derived from the Latin word 'ballare' which means 'to dance'. This shows its connection with tribal dance.
A ballad deals with some episode of simple motif written in a stanza suitable for oral transmission. In ancient ballads, the authors were unknown. The themes were commonly furnished by the elementary aspects of life. Large space was given to tales of adventure and love, fighting and courage. Generally supernaturalism was an essential element of such ballads.
The ballad began to appear in England even before Chaucer's time. The earliest English ballad is the fragmentary 'Judas' of the 13th century. The central characteristics of the ballad are narrative presentation, simplicity and spontaneity of expression. The most popular ballad measure used to be the 'quatrain stanza' with rhyme at the end of the second and the fourth lines.
There are mainly two kinds of ballads - the traditional ballad (or) the ballad of growth and the modern ballad (or) the literary ballad.
Traditional ballads:
- The traditional ballads originated from the folk culture of each nation.
- Most of these ballads are of unknown authorship.
- They are the authentic ballads that have grown naturally among a primitive race and are transmitted orally from generation to generation.
- They are impersonal in character because they are not concerned with the subjective feelings of the narrator.
- The ballad mostly deals with love and adventure.
- The narrator generally begins with a climatic episode and tells the story by means of action and dialogue.
- There is no attempt to give the details of place and time and no introductions are given.
- Most traditional ballads have a sudden and abrupt beginning as in the famous ballad 'Sir Patrick Spens' and 'The Wife of Usher's Well'. These ballads use refrains and repetitions.
- Many of these ballads have immense dramatic power and metrical beauty.
- Most of the ancient English ballads are collected in Bishop Percy's 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' published in 1765.
- Majority of them are of Scottish origin.
- There are several ballads dealing with the legend of Robin Hood. Some other important traditional ballads are 'Chevy Chace', 'Edom O' Gordon', 'Thomas, The Rhymer' and 'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington'.
Modern ballads:
- Modern or Literary ballad is generally written by a learned poet in conscious and sophisticated imitation of the traditional ballad.
- Many of the conventional features like the stanza form are maintained in the literary ballad.
- Bishop Percy's collection of songs and ballad gave a powerful push towards the writing of ballads.
- Some of the greatest literary ballads were written during the period of the Romantic Revival.
- The most well-known among them is Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' in which the ballad metre is used.
- Wordsworth wrote two ballads - 'We are Seven' and 'The Tables Turned'.
- Keats's famous ballad 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' represents a variation on the traditional ballad stanza. However, the theme strongly resembles that of the traditional ballads.
- Literary ballads show an enlargement of description, psychological interest and a more finished style.
- In ballads like Tennyson's 'The Revenge', Browning's 'Herve Riel' and Rossetti's 'The King's Tragedy' we see not only the sterling qualities of the old ballads but also traits of originality which make them modern and original poems.
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| 'RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER' |
- Some other literary ballads in English are Scott's 'Eve of St. John', Kingsley's 'The Sand of Dee' and William Morris's 'Shameful Death'.
A minor form of literary ballad is the mock-ballad in which a comic theme is treated with the seriousness appropriate to a regular ballad. It follows the ballad conventions in all respects except the choice of theme. Cowper's 'John Gilpin' is a fine example of mock-ballad. Another is William Marginn's 'The Rime of the Ancient Waggoner' an excellent spoof of Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
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