This
literary genre in the modern world is not particularly popular and is something very unusual and sophisticated. This is largely due to the fact that this form of storytelling is very complex and requires skill and real talent from the author. It’s very easy for a person familiar with the literary world to explain what a ballad is.
Folklore chant
Ballad is a lyrical work with a plot of an epic character. This form of storytelling gives the writer the opportunity to use a large number of expressive means, enhance the emotionality of the text with the help of alliteration and assonance, emphasize the beauty of the character’s direct speech, using beautiful rhymes. Most often, the plot of ballads is associated with folklore, some kind of heroic stories and legends. Often it happens to meet songs with the name "Ballad of a hero", "Ballad of a warrior" and the like. It is always assumed that the ballad can be put on music, so it is read almost in chant. Ideally, the ballad to which the music is written should contain a large number of assonances for the most soft sound.
Sweet song is pouring
To understand what a ballad is, you need to read at least a small excerpt from a work of this genre. Usually ballads are not easy for a modern reader to perceive, as it is inconvenient for him to perceive any large poetic text. Attention is diverted to the form of the narrative, and the described events seem to be passed "by the ears", and an unprepared reader is more likely to notice the beauty of the rhyme than it can keep track of the plot details and character motives. Perhaps that is why the ballad genre is not very common, and few of the "uninitiated" know exactly what a ballad is. For most, it is associated with the literature of ancient times, when the ability to use an exalted syllable was mandatory for each author. Today, poetry has been greatly simplified, and this also applies to song lyrics. Much more attention is paid to the visual design of a video clip than to the textual content of a modern song. However, nowadays, modern, modernized ballads are born, again returning listeners to the past.
France is the birthplace of the genre
It is lucid to explain what a ballad is best with a specific example. You should start with French literature, since it was in France that this attractive kind of literary work was born. It was in this state that the ballad genre appeared as a result of the abolition of canzon in the last decades of the XIII century. We can say that the French love song “evolved” into something more serious and deeper, into a style with a more complex form and extensive content. One of the very first ballads in France was created by Lafontaine, known throughout the world for his immortal fables. His ballads were quite simple in content and form, so later they mercilessly criticized the more experienced and sophisticated creators of ballads. The same moods, the same properties that Lafontaine's fables had, the writer transferred to his ballads. A good example of a French, almost modern ballad is Victor Hugo's La ballade de la nonne. His skill in writing works of this genre once again confirms the writer's skill.
Misty Albion Ballads
The ballad genre was also widespread in England. It is believed that the genre itself was brought to the lands of
Misty Albion by the Norman conquerors. On the territory of England, the ballad acquired even more serious features, began to touch on gloomy topics and significantly changed its mood. Who knows, maybe fog has done its job. First, the British sang the
Norse god Odin, and then gradually moved on to the subject of the exploits of Scottish heroes. In these ballads, the national flavor of this country is very clearly observed, which cannot be confused with anything else. Few people have not heard the story of Robin Hood, the prince of thieves, robbing the rich and giving the loot to the poor. The British also added ballads about him. English literary works in the ballad genre also widely touch upon the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. Even now it is easy to imagine how tired heroes comfortably sit around the fire, take lutes and sing each other ballads about the search for the Holy Grail and the magic of the great Merlin Ambrosius.
Severe German ballads
Like the British,
German ballad
writers also preferred gloom and seriousness, which is why German ballads have a difficult atmosphere. The best ballads in Germany were created in the heyday of romanticism.
Famous writers such as
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gottfried August Burger and Heinrich Heine tried their pen in this genre. The German character of these authors can be traced even in such a refined literary work as a ballad. Goethe’s ballad called Der Erlkönig is very famous. There are several translations of this name, but most often you can see the "King of the Elves." The plot of this ballad is very sad and almost stereotypically severe in German. The ballad describes the death of a little boy, supposedly at the hands of this very king of elves. However, it is impossible to say for sure that the ballad has a mystical character. It is possible that the boy was dying of the disease, and supernatural beings he just dreamed of in a fever.
Ballads of Modernity
The definition of ballad genre is somewhat blurred today. In modern times, this literary genre has gained ease and simplified, but has not lost its authenticity. Examples of such works or at least ballad-like songs can be found very often in the works of folk groups. For example, the Fleur and Mill groups sometimes directly use the word “ballad” in their songs, making them sound more romantic and refined. Sometimes ballads are heard in movies on historical or heroic themes, and sometimes you can hear them in computer games. The best example is the relatively new game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where the bards sing beautiful ballads about local heroes and conquerors. A literary genre with such beauty is unlikely to ever completely lose its relevance.