Literary notes about Ballad (AI summary)
In literature the word "ballad" conveys both a form and a mood—a lyrical narrative that blends oral tradition with musicality. It can denote a traditional tune imbued with local or historical character, as when Scottish compositions evoke familiar voices and customs [1, 2], and may also signify a terse narrative recounting heroic deeds or tragic love, such as those detailing the demise of great figures or the sorrow of personal loss [3, 4, 5]. Poets and novelists have employed the ballad form to shift perspectives within a single piece, intertwining song-like refrains with dramatic storytelling [6, 7, 8]. Ultimately, the term embodies a versatile literary device, one that captures the rhythm of speech and song while reserving a space for cultural memory and expressive economy [9, 10, 11].
- H2 anchor Election Ballad For Westerha' Tune—“Up and waur them a', Willie.”
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - Then hey, for a lass, &c. H2 anchor Heron Election Ballad, No.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - A famous old ballad of the time tells how “Our worthy Captain Lovewell among them there did die.
— from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney - And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - This poem was first published in Colton’s “American Review” for December, 1847, as “To—Ulalume: a Ballad.”
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - This progress you will see easily in that old English ballad Turpin Hero, which begins in the first person and ends in the third person.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - ‘And listen,’ she continued, provokingly, commencing a verse of an old ballad in the same fashion.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - A prophet I, madam; and I speak the truth the next way: For I the ballad will repeat, Which men full true shall find:
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - This collection of Wilde’s Poems contains the volume of 1881 in its entirety , ‘ The Sphinx ’, ‘ The Ballad of Reading Gaol ,’ and ‘ Ravenna .’
— from Poems, with The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde - The Ballad of Reading Gaol 1898 First Issued by Methuen and Co. ( Limited Editions on Handmade Paper and Japanese Vellum ) March 1908
— from Poems, with The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde - A tale is the better for length, a ballad for its curtness.
— from English Fairy Tales
