Ballad

Theme

A simple dfinition of the word "is a song that tells a story and originally was a musical accompaniment to a dance" (Cuddon 71). It comes from "the late Latin and Italian ballare 'to dance'(Cuddon 71).The word ballad is known to have three different meaning and three main types depending on what origin it is from. The three main types of ballad are: Traditional Ballad,Literary ballad, and the last one is called sheet ballard or broadside ballads. Traditional ballads were more common in the rural environments and they were song by mouth. Since the traditional ballads were sung by mouth they could be passed down. Literary ballads were made by poets. Holman states that "it is true that the folk ballad is, in almost every country, one of the earliest forms of literature (42).

Word Cited

Holman, Hugh C. A Handbook To Literature. New York: The Odyssey Press, 1936.

Cudden, J. A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Fourth Edition. Great Britain, Penguin Group, 1977.