The ballad is a lyrical folk song. It is mainly sung by minstrels and folk-dancers. It has a long history and some of the English ballads were written even before Chaucer.
It is a simple short story in verse. The subject matter is common events and actions. The theme may be love, war, adventure, harvesting and soon. Sometimes the themes are fierce or tragic. There is a ballad measure in which it is written. The first line contains four iambs and the second, three. The second and the fourth lines rhyme with each other. Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written in this measure:
The ice here the ice was there
The ice was all a round
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It cracked and growl’d and roar’d and howl’d
The first and third lines contain four iambs and the second and fourth have three iambs. Around of the second line rhymes with sound of the fourth line. Keats La Belle Dam Sans Merci is also a ballad. He also changes the measure slightly at places.
She took me to her elf in grot
And three she wept and sighed full store,
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And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four
The first three lines have four iambs and the last line has two iambs. But the rhyme scheme is the same. The variation in the feet of the lines is found often and it is used to suit the exigencies of thought.
There are two kinds of ballads – the authentic and the literary. The authentic ballads are of unknown authorship. They were sung by a strolling singer or singers, who earned their livelihood by singing. They offered entertainment to listeners. They were sung to the accompaniment of a harp or some musical instrument. They are long interesting popular folk stories. Chevy Chase and The Wife of Usher’s Well are well-known authentic ballads.
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The literary ballad is an emulation of the traditional form in matter and manner. Keats ‘a Belle Dame Sans Merci and Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are literary. There is also the mock ballad, which treats the theme comically. Cowper’s John Gilpin is a good example of a mock ballad.
The ballad, usually, begins abruptly. La Belle Dame sans Merci introduces the ailing knight in the first line all of a sudden. The theme is unfortunate love. The Rime of the Ancient mariner too begins abruptly with the introduction of the mariner. The theme is universal love. The mariner, who kills the albatross, is redeemed when he learns to love all things created by God.
With the advent of other kinds of popular entertainment, the ballad lost its place as an entertainer in the course of time. The literary ballad too lost its appeal with the change of tastes.