USAGE: English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek, Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology
Term: Ballad. Strictly, a ballad is a form of poetry that alternates lines of four and three beats, often in quatrains, rhymed abab, and often telling a story-the anonymous poem 'Sir Patrick Spens' and Wordsworth's A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal demonstrate this well.erm: Ballad. Strictly, a ballad is a form of poetry that alternates lines of four and three beats, often in quatrains, rhymed abab, and often telling a story-the anonymous poem 'Sir Patrick Spens' and Wordsworth's A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal demonstrate this well.
In ballads, there are usually eight or six syllables in a line. Like any poem, some ballads follow this form and some don't, but almost all ballads are narrative, which means they tell a story. Because the ballad was originally set to music, some ballads have a refrain, or a repeated chorus, just like a song does. Similarly, the rhyme scheme is often ABAB because of the musical quality of this rhyme pattern.