The Ballad

The ballad is one of the oldest poetic forms in English and are simply poems or songs that tell a story. Traditionally they are composed in quatrains, with common meter that follow an a b c b rhyming structure and this, together with the simple language (often the dialect of the region), made them easier to memorise and recite by wandering minstrels as they were passed down orally.

Originally derived from the Medieval French the name suggests that they were to dance to and whilst widely use...