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Exploring Medieval Ballads: Definition and Themes

Discover the essence of Medieval ballads, narrative songs passed down orally, characterized by simplicity, directness, and dramatic storytelling. Delve into folk and minstrel ballads, exploring themes of love, death, and more.

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Exploring Medieval Ballads: Definition and Themes

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  1. Medieval Ballads

  2. Definition Narrative songs handed down in oral tradition From French word meaning “dance song”

  3. Characteristics • Simple and direct - stresses a single incident; begins in the midst of the incident • Little or no background information • Tells a story developed through dialogue • Tells of dramatic events of ordinary people or legendary heroes • Performed for an audience

  4. Types Folk Ballad - oldest type; composed by local bard to remember important event Story most important Tone is tragic Ends in death by accident, murder, suicide, or return of the dead Use of repetition - adds to melody, provides emphasis, heightens emotional effect Some well known traditional folk ballads include “Lord Randall,”“The Three Ravens, and “Get up and Bar the Door.”

  5. Types Minstrel Ballad • Used themes of folk ballads and added descriptions of settings and characters’ feelings • Longer than folk ballad • Less direct than folk ballad • More literary than folk ballad • A well known minstrel ballad is “Sir Patrick Spens/Spence.”

  6. Subjects • Quarrels among family members or lovers or friends • Death • War • Fear of the unknown • Lives of people • Adventures of outlaws • Tragic love

  7. Subjects • Quarrels among family members or lovers or friends • Death • War • Fear of the unknown • Lives of people • Adventures of outlaws • Tragic love

  8. Themes • Love • Courage • Death • Revenge • Envy • Rebellion • Betrayal • Remorse • Loyalty • Patriotism

  9. Song Characteristics • Four-line stanzas • Rhyme in lines 2 and 4 • Repetition of words, phrases, and lines • Refrains

  10. Lord Randal • http://www.pteratunes.org.uk/Music/Music/Lyrics/LordRandal.html

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