What is a Ballad?

**What is a Ballad?**

While many associate ballads with slow, sentimental love songs, they are in fact versatile narratives told through poetry or song. These tales, recounted in short stanzas, span a spectrum of themes from romance to comedy, heroism, and tragedy. Each ballad weaves a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, typically composed of verses or stanzas, each comprising four lines. Their rhythmic cadence resembles that of a song, often following the rhyming pattern of a-b-c-b, lending them a musical quality. It's common for ballads to be set to music, with some even featuring a repeated refrain or chorus akin to traditional songs. In essence, a ballad is a poetic form that tells a story, employing rhythmic verses and a structured rhyming pattern, making it a rich and engaging medium for narrative expression.

Here's an example of a ballad:

**The Ballad of Fair Rosalind**

In merry lands where rivers bend,

Lived fair Rosalind, dear friend.

Her hair, a cascade of golden hue,

Eyes like sapphires, deep and true.

In tales of old, her name did ring,

A beauty rare, like birds in spring.

Yet fate had plans, both cruel and kind,

For fair Rosalind, of gentle mind.

One summer's eve, 'neath moon's soft glow,

She met a lad, with heart aglow.

Their love did bloom, like roses fine,

Entwined together, souls entwine.

But dark clouds gathered, shadows cast,

Their love, a tale that could not last.

For duty called, across the sea,

Her lover gone, from fair Rosalind, to be.

Through lonely nights and tearful days,

She longed for him, in countless ways.

And as the seasons turned, her heart did ache,

For her true love's return, she did forsake.

Yet fate, relentless, had one more twist,

A letter came, her heart to lift.

Her love, alive, returning home,

To fair Rosalind, no longer to roam.

Through trials faced and battles won,

Their love endured, like morning sun.

And in their arms, forever bound,

The ballad of fair Rosalind, resound.

By Nina Sanftmut