Characteristics of the Medieval Ballad

1. The medieval balladPerformer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2012

2. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
The ballad
• belonged to ‘folk’ or ‘popular’ tradition
• was a short narrative song
• was preserved and transmitted orally
• was impersonal: narrator / singer rarely interferes
• personal pronoun ‘I’ is one that represents a party or a
community
1. Stylistic features

3. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
1. Stylistic features
The ballad
• is composed of short stanzas of two or four lines
• contains repetition of words or lines
O where ha’ you been, Lord Randal my son?
And where ha’ you been, my handsome young man?
I ha’ been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ hunting and fain wad lie down.
(from Lord Randal)

4. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
2. Narrative features
• Dialogue is often used.
O sister, sister let me live,
And all that’s mine I’ll surely give.
It’s your own true love that I’ll have and more
But thou shalt never come ashore.
(from Cruel Sister)

5. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
3. Content
• The ballad focuses on a single crucial episode or
situation.
There were three gypsies tae oor hall door,
An’ O but they sang bonnie O
They sang so sweet and too complete
That they stole the heart of our lady, O!
(from Gypsy Laddies)

6. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
4. Setting
• There is little description of the setting.
There was a king and a noble king
A king of muckle1
fame
And he had an only daughter dear,
Lady Diamond was her name.
He had a servant, a kitchen boy,
A lad of muckle scorn
And she loved him long and she loved him aye
Till the grass overgrew the corn.
(from Lady Diamond) 1. Great.

7. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
5. Characters
• The characters are both fantastic creatures and
human beings.
Fair Lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing
Aye as the gowans1
grow gay.
There she heard and elf-knight blowing his horn
The first morning in May.
(from Lady Isabel and the Elf-knight)
1. Daisies.

8. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
6. The language
• The language is plain and formulaic.
1
There lived a lady in the north sea shore
Lay the bent1
to the bonnie broom2
Two daughters were the babes she bore
Fa la la la la la la la la la.
2
As one grew bright as in the sun
Lay the bent to the bonnie broom
So coal black grew the elder one
Fa la la la la la la la la la.
(from Cruel Sister)
1. Giunco.
2. Ginestra.

9. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
7. Theme
• Ballads deal with supernatural events /
characters, love, war, dramatic events.
Ah my Geordie will be hanged in a golden chain
‘Tis not the chain of many,
Stole sixteen of the King’s royal deer
And he sold them in Bohenny
(from Geordie)

10. The medieval ballad
Performer - Culture & Literature
7. Theme
• Ballads deal with supernatural events /
characters, love, war, dramatic events.
Ah my Geordie will be hanged in a golden chain
‘Tis not the chain of many,
Stole sixteen of the King’s royal deer
And he sold them in Bohenny
(from Geordie)