2. Ballads

3. A ballad is an impersonal
poem
It is a short poem, usually 50
or 60 lines long
It is written in rhymed verse
which could be sung.
Rhyme:

4. Some ballads are like
epics deal with wars
some deal with love
some with everyday
experience

5. A ballad is a narrative
poem that tells a
story

6. The common measure used in
ballads is the fourteener.
The fourteener is lines of fourteen
syllables broken up into two
divisions of eight and six syllables
for example: the ballad in Page
(39)

7. Two Kinds of Ballads:
1- Traditional Ballads:
(usually by unknown poets)
an example is The Wife of
Usher’s Well.
2- Literary Ballads:
Imitations of traditional ones
an example is Coleridge’s The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner

8. How to recognize a Ballad:
• A ballad must be a narrative
• Impersonal in tone
• Written in stanza of four lines in
which the first and third consist of 8
syllables each and the second and
fourth consist of 6 syllable each