What are Ballads?
Ballads are folk songs that tell a story. In the past when there was no media, Ballad singers would go around houses asking if anything had happened. They then would remember this piece of news and would go around spreading it. Ballads only include the main detail so people listen to them. They were usually about murders, mysteries and disasters. In this essay I will include the language features of Ballads and the storyline. I will also write about which ballads I have read and whether I have enjoyed them or not.
Ballads share many different language features. One of the language features used is repetition. Repetition occurs in “what has happened to Lu-Lu?”
“What has happened to Lu-Lu mother?” this is almost like a chorus. It helps us remember the ballad. Another language feature is regular rhyme scheme. There is a regular rhyme scheme in Frankie and Johnny.
“Love. ……above” This makes the poem more interesting and it also gives the poem a rhythm. Another ballad that uses regular rhyme scheme is the Greshford disaster.
“…Paid…….Brigade” This makes the poem have a regular beat also it makes the poem easier to remember. Alliteration is a language feature. Alliteration occurs in Frankie and Johnny.
“Roll……Roll……Roll…….” The ‘R’ sound being repeated helps you picture someone being rolled over. In the ballad of Charlotte Dymond there is a lot of Alliteration.
“She……….She……….She” This almost makes me feel like someone is whispering because of the sadness of Charlotte’s disappearance. In the Greshford Disaster all the stanzas have the same amount of lines this makes the poem more pleasing. In what has happened to Lu-Lu? All the stanzas have the same amount of lines. This made it easier to remember for Ballad Singers .In What has happened to Lu Lu? There are similes this is one “I heard an engine roar”. This helps you imagine what the sound of the engine is like. In the Greshford Disaster there are also similes “What packed like snow in a drift” This helps you imagine what the gas in the Dennis looked like, there would be lots of gas in the coal mine and you wouldn’t be able to see anything like in a snow drift.
Many Ballads are about love but some of them are about other things like mysteries and disasters. Two ballads which are similar are “The Ballad of Hillsborough: and “The Greshford Disaster” because they are both about disastrous events and people dieing. However “What has happened to Lu -Lu” is different because it us about a girl disappearing. From my opinion I think The Greshford Disaster and The Ballad of Hillsborough are more tragic, because in what has happened to Lu -Lu no one actually dies but in the other two ballads there are people dieing.
But different people will have a different opinion .Two other ballads which are similar are “Frankie and Johnny” and “The ballad of Charlotte Dymond” but in “The ballad of Charlotte Dymond” her husband Matthew kills here and in “Frankie and Johnny” Frankie kills her husband Johnny. I think people would still like ballads like this because there are still people going missing, people dieing, and disasters. Also people like listening and reading about other people and things that are happening in the rest of the world.
I have read a number of Ballads foe example The ballad of Hillsborough” The Greshford Disaster, What has happened to Lu-Lu and The ballad of Charlotte Dymond. Although my personal favorite is “Frankie and Johnny. “The storyline of the ballad is about two people who are madly in love and in the end they betray each other .My favourite part is when Frankie takes the trigger out of her kimona. The poet says “Frankie threw back her kimona took out a big 44 Root a toot toot three times she shoot.” I thought this was effective because it puts you in suspense of what Frankie is going to do. I would recommend ballads to people who are fond of reading and writing poems because ballads contain the same language features that poems include.
