THE BALLADS

letteratura inglese

THE BALLADS

Most writers on the form distinguish three kinds of ballad: traditional, literary and popular ballad. The traditional ballad is a song, transmitted orally, commenting on life by telling a story in popular style. The story is told in fl 747c25h ashes and each stanza embodies a separate passage of dialogue or a distinct scene. There are sudden narrative shots, vivid dreamlike images. There are also refrains, repetitions and stock descriptive phrases. The stanza has four lines (ABCB).The literary ballad is written by a learned poet. Some of those ballads belong to the Romantic period. The popular ballad is the product of a literate or at least a semi literate urban population. The values of the traditional ballad are heroic; those of the popular ballad are realistic and unheroic .The traditional ballad is tragic in tone, while the popular ballad tends towards comedy; is the poetry of the common man. The popular ballad is also called broadside ballad because it was printed on a single broadsheet and hawked about the streets.

The old English ballads include the best exciting poetry in the language. Most of them had been composed from 1350 to 1550, so the language is different from the modern English. Maybe the best ballads come from northern England and southern Scotland. The ballad is a narrative poem: it tells a story. The most popular subjects which appear are sex and violence: children thrown from the castle walls on to sharp spears, murdering, women who poison their husbands..Another favourite subject is the supernatural (ghosts, magic, witchcraft etc)because the man of the time didn't live only with the fear of the war but also of unnatural dangers.

ROBIN HOOD

In England the Robin Hood ballads are better known than any others. Robin Hood is one of the great English folk heroes. Maybe he was a real historical character who lived in the north-midlands in the 12 century. He is described as living in Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham, as a leader of a group of outlaws (Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian etc).Robin and his friends were helpers of the poor and the weak, brave and always ready to fight for the justice. In short Robin Hood is the typical romantic hero. The Robin Hood ballads are humorous (and not tragic) because they come from central England and not from the Scottish border. They have a life and gaiety which make them more attractive to young readers, even if they don't reach the quality of the ballads coming from the Scottish Border.