Art ballad or Literary Ballad – Literary Terms

Art ballad, Literary Ballad, Literary Terms

Art ballad or Literary Ballad – Literary Terms

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Art ballad:  

Another term for LITERARY BALLAD, a form of NARRATIVE POETRY that imitates the general RHYTHM and STANZA patterns of traditional FOLK BALLADS.

Or,

Literary ballad:

NARRATIVE POETRY written by known authors that imitates the general RHYTHM and STANZA patterns of FOLK BALLADS. Also called art ballads, literary ballads often contain more elevated language and poetic DICTION than are found in folk ballads.

 

Written by known authors, the literary ballad is a studied imitation of the general rhythmic pattern and STANZA form of the folk ballad. These art ballads, as they are sometimes called, are more polished and consciously artful than folk ballads and often contain the more elevated language and poetic DICTION of the professional poet. Some well-known English literary ballads are “La Belle Dame sans Merci" by John Keats, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Sir Walter Scott's “Rosabelle." American literary ballads include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Skeleton in Armor," Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Ballad of William Sycamore," and Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat."        

See also:

BALLAD,

BALLAD STANZA,

INCREMENTAL REPETITION,

REFRAIN.