Traditional Folk Ballads

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Traditional Folk Ballads
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Introduction

• A ballad is a narrative/dramatic poem, as opposed
  to a lyrical one, that was originally composed to
  be sung.
• Most were composed by anonymous musicians or
  entertainers
• They developed over centuries of oral tradition.
• Epics, like Beowulf, were for the educated
  ballads, on the other hand, entertained both the
  high and the low born.

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Some Guidlines
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Follow the Dialogue

• Most ballads rely on dialogue to advance the
  plot. In Lord Randall, for example, the first
  two lines in each stanza are spoken by Lord
  Randalls mother and the last two are Lord
  Randalls answer.

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Summarize the Plot

• Make note of the main actions or events and then
  put together in a summary. For example, the
  story line of Get Up and Bar the Door can be
  summarized as follows A husband and wife are at
  home on a feast day, they both want the door
  shut, but the wife is too busy and the husbands
  too lazy. They make a bet that the first one who
  speaks must close the door. Thugs come along,
  notice the open door, and as they cause trouble
  the husband yells at themhe loses the bet.

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Appreciate the Genre

• Many ballads are about tragic circumstances,
  ending in death by accident, suicide, the return
  of the dead, or murder.
• Many ballad seem to have been composed to
  commemorate important events or important people
  in particular communities.
• As a rule, the background material is sketchy
  the listeners were more interested in rapid and
  dramatic action.

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Let the Repetition have its effect

• A refrain is the repetition of words, phrases, or
  lines employed for melodic effect, to provide
  emphasis, and to heighten emotion.
• An incremental refrain, or the repetition in
  succeeding stanzas of lines containing some small
  addition, or increment, is used to build to a
  climax.
• Many ballads, like Get Up and Bar the Door, use
  what is called a ballad stanza four alternating
  line of Iambic Tetrameter and Trimeter that
  rhymes the second and fourth lines. Hint if you
  can sing a poem to the theme of Gilligans Isle,
  then its in ballad stanza form.

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Ballad Rubric
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Your Turn

• In pairs or small groups, write a ballad that
  conveys your views on any historical period or
  event that produced widespread fear or
  lamentation in society. By historical I do not
  necessarily mean national the period or event
  might be small and particular to your family,
  Chaminade, or Los Angeles, but it may also be
  large and sweeping in scope. You may use the
  structure of Lord Randall or of a standard
  ballad stanza.