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POETRY

Ballad

 

Some definitions:
 
Ballads are poems that tell a story. They are considered to be a form of narrative poetry. They are often used in songs and have a very musical quality to them.
   The basic form for ballads is iambic heptameter (seven sets of unstressed, stressed sylables per line), in sets of four, with the second and fourth lines rhyming. This is the standard, but we do not require you to follow it rigidly in the poetry you submit to us, especially since very few people use or even know the standard! Feel free to experiment, but remember, it should have a smooth, song-like sound when you speak it aloud.
F. B. Gum mere describes the ballad as "a poem meant for singing, quite impersonal in material, probably connected in its origins with the communal dance, but submitted to a process of oral tradition among people who are free from literary influences and fairly homogeneous in character."
 
 
A collection of ballads by various authors..
Bodleian Ballad Archive: The Bodleian Library has unparalleled holdings of over 30,000 ballads in several major collections. The original printed materials range from the 16th- to the 20th-Century. The Broadside Ballads project makes the digitized copies of the sheets and ballads available to the research community.
The Word on the Street The National Library of Scotland's online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides lets you see for yourself what 'the word on the street' was in Scotland between 1650 and 1910. Crime, politics, romance, emigration, humour, tragedy, royalty and superstitions - all these and more are here
A Book of Old English Ballads This collection of ballads contains some of the best known English folk lyrics. It is nowhere near as comprehensive as other books, such as the massive Child ballad collection. However, the illustrations are gorgeous, and the selection is excellent. It should be noted that 'Old English' in this case doesn't mean 'Anglo-Saxon'; strictly speaking these are written in late Middle or early Modern English. This makes them accessible, even enjoyable, for a modern audience.
Early Child Ballads A ballad is a story, distilled to its essence and set to song. The song itself tends to be unpretentious - usually a simple verse form set to a modal melody - but an unpretentious song can still be lovely, as many ballads are. It is probable that simplicity has had much to do with the ballad's continued survival and popularity: Ballads have been passed down through the centuries, changing to suit the tastes of the singers, borrowing from the music of the day, borrowing from each other. Every few decades the ballad seems to undergo a revival, with old books and manuscripts being searched for old ballads and new inspiration. The result is a living musical tradition whose roots can be traced back over half a millenium.
The Poetry Archive
Archive is full of poems chosen specially for children. Meet old favourites and make new discoveries.