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BALLAD (FOLK BALLADS) Ballads, also
known as folk ballads, or popular ballads, were com-
posed to be sung. Unlike the similar CAROL, however,
ballads were based on legends or traditions from the
local area and were commonly passed down orally
between generations. Thus, the medieval and Elizabe-
than ballads extant today are only one version of many
that once existed. Ballads typically depict dramatic situ-
ations, are told either by an omniscient narrator or
through dialogue, and often begin the tale in media res.
The ballad has no set form, but typically falls into
four-line STANZAs rhyming abcb. There are more than
300 extant English and Scottish ballads, which fall into
fi ve general categories: romantic (“BARBARA ALLEN”),
nautical (“Henry Martin”), historic (“The BONNY EARL
OF MURRAY”), heroic (the ROBIN HOOD BALLADS), and
supernatural (“The Wife of Usher’s Well”). The fi rst,
and still most comprehensive, collection of ballads was
compiled by Francis James Child in the 19th century
(English and Scottish Popular Ballads).
See also BALLAD STANZA, BORDER BALLADS, MIDDLE EN-
GLISH LYRICS AND BALLADS.

FURTHER READING
Child, Francis James, ed. The English and Scottish Popular
Ballads. 5 vols. 1802. Reprint, New York: Dover Publica-
tions, 1965.

BALLAD See BALLAD (FOLK BALLADs), BALLAD
STANZA, BORDER BALLADS, MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND
BALLADS, ROBIN HOOD BALLADS.

BALLADE A ballade is a poem with three STANZAs

of seven, eight, or 10 lines, an ENVOI, amd a REFRAIN.

The lines are generally in either iambic tetrameter or

IAMBIC PENTAMETER and rhyme. Traditionally, the envoi

was addressed to the poet’s patron.

The eight-line ballade is most standard. The 10-line

ballade is sometimes called the ballade supreme and is

predominantly a French verse form. The seven-line

ballade is also known as the ballade royal. It consists of

four stanzas of RHYME ROYAL verse, all following the

same pattern, all using the same refrain, and having no

envoi.

The most well-known writer of ballades is François

Villon (1431–1465?). GEOFFREY CHAUCER wrote several

ballades, including the envoi-less “To Rosemunde.” In

the 16th century, Sir PHILIP SIDNEY experimented with

the form, as did EDMUND SPENSER, among others.

See also ENVOI.

“BALLAD ON THE MARRIAGE OF

PHILIP AND MARY, A” JOHN HEYWOOD

(1554) The dramatist, musician, and poet John Hey-

wood (ca. 1497–ca. 1580) was on the payroll of the

Tudor royal family for a number of decades. He was

particularly favored by MARY I (queen of England), and

during her reign of 1553–58, the anti-Protestant Hey-

wood enjoyed considerable PATRONAGE and prestige.

Published as a stand-alone text in 1554, “A Ballad

on the Marriage of Philip and Mary” is a brief and

piquant expression of Heywood’s loyalty to the Catho-

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