COME AND LISTEN TO A STORY – What is a Ballad?

A ballad is a form of poetry that alternates lines of four and three beats, often in quatrains, rhymed a-b-a-b, and usually tells a story. A narrative song that was passed down orally was called a folk ballad.

Ballads are plot driven songs with the balladeer reciting a dramatic story. For example:

I Came Among the Hills

I came among these hills
These hills to see I came
But when the old man startled me
For his death I wasn’t to blame.

For if to kill in self defense
’Tis a crime you see
Then carry me away to hang
The on to bury me.

I was walking down the road
When he sprang out so free
He stood with blazing gun
And fired his bullets three.

The first bullet hit my shoulder
The second pierced my thigh
The third ner’ reached at all
But zoomed straight on by.

So frightened was I by his attack
So very taken with fright
I grabbed my rifle from my back
And fired without taking sight.

For if to kill in self defense
’Tis a crime you see
Then carry me away to hang
Then on to bury me.

The shot I fired rent his heart
Stopped its hateful beat
It tore apart his very soul
And laid it at my feet.

The townsmen from the village came
They came and took me away
They said he was a friend of theirs
His death they must repay.

The next day when they came
They found my spirit gone
For in the night I had killed myself
To heaven I now belong.

For if to kill in self defense
’Tis a crime you see
Then carry me away to hang
Then on to bury me.

They would have killed me anyway
If only given the chance
For in my murder all I had done
Was hasten up the lance.

© 1971 Darlo O. Gemeinhardt

As you can see the above ballad tells a story and has a repeating chorus like you might find in a song. Some ballads you can check out are, John Barleycorn by Robert Frost, A Ballad of Burial by Rudyard Kipling, and A Ballad Sent to King Richard by Geoffrey Chaucer. One ballad I’ll bet most all of you know is The Ballad of Jed Clampett (theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies). Check it out.

YA’LL COME BACK NOW!

BIO

Darlo Gemeinhardt writes middle grade novels. She believes that there is a story in every dog. In her spare time, she takes care of 1 husband (of 40 years), 29 dogs and trains with TALLAO, K-9 SEARCH AND RESCUE. Visit her at From the dog pen.com