Section Ⅲ 　 Popular Ballad

British literature in the 15th century witnessed the flourish of popular ballad. Ballad belongs to the folk literature, the literature of the common people, just as romance is the literature of the upper classes.

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Romance Ballad

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Ballads are anonymous narrative poems designed for singing or oral recitation and composed in usually 4-line stanzas, the first and third lines having four feet each, the second and fourth lines having three feet each and rhymes falling on the second and fourth lines.

Popular Ballad

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Usually a ballad deals with a single episode and the beginning is often abrupt, without any introduction to the characters and background information. The themes of ballads are various in kind, from war and bloodshed and superstition to domestic affairs and outlawry. Perhaps the commonest themes are those concerning domestic life, particularly with the relations between different members of a family or between lovers.

Popular Ballad

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Popular Ballad

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The history of ballads could be dated back to the 13th century and they were not collected and published until much later. The best known of the earliest collections was given by Bishop Thomas Percy (1729 ～ 1811), named Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

Popular Ballad

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Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

Popular Ballad

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