Literary Forms Ballad Quiz : According to Merriam Webster Dictionary ‘Ballad is a narrative composition in rhythmic verse suitable for singing’. It is a popular narrative song that tells a story and is passed down by word of mouth or orally. In English tradition, these songs usually have a special pattern with rhymes (abcb) (rhymed quatrain) alternating four-stress and three-stress lines. Folk ballads, which are traditional songs, do not have known authors and tell sad, funny, or heroic stories, focusing on a main dramatic event. Some well-known examples are “Barbara Allen” and “John Henry.”
Starting from the Renaissance period, poets began to use the style of folk ballads to create their own original poems. Some examples of these “literary” ballads are John Keats’s “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” Thomas Hardy’s “During Wind and Rain,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.”
Famous Ballad Poems in English Literature
| Title of the Ballad | Poet | Main Theme | Literary Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Sin, guilt, redemption, nature | Romantic (1798) |
| La Belle Dame Sans Merci | John Keats | Fatal love, illusion, supernatural beauty | Romantic (1819) |
| The Ballad of Reading Gaol | Oscar Wilde | Crime, punishment, justice | Victorian (1898) |
| Lord Randall | Anonymous (Traditional) | Betrayal, death, questioning style | Medieval |
| Barbara Allen | Anonymous (Traditional) | Unrequited love, sorrow, regret | Medieval/Traditional |
| Edward, Edward | Anonymous (Traditional) | Murder, guilt, family conflict | Medieval |
| The Twa Corbies | Anonymous (Scottish Ballad) | Death, decay, indifference | Middle Ages |
| The Wife of Usher’s Well | Anonymous (Folk Ballad) | Grief, supernatural return of dead sons | Traditional |
| Sir Patrick Spens | Anonymous (Traditional) | Duty, loyalty, tragic sea voyage | Medieval |
| Bonnie Barbara Allan | Anonymous (Scottish Ballad) | Love, misunderstanding, death | Traditional |
| The Lady of Shalott | Alfred, Lord Tennyson | Isolation, curse, unfulfilled desire | Victorian (1832) |
| Tam Lin | Anonymous (Scottish Ballad) | Love, bravery, supernatural rescue | Traditional/Folk |
| The Lament of the Border Widow | Anonymous | War, widowhood, sorrow | Traditional |
Literary Forms Ballad Quiz
Today’s quiz is on Ballad. The Ballad MCQ quiz is equally important for both RPSC 1st Grade English & 2nd Grade English Examinations.
Source of the Quiz : Ballad – Definition & Examples
Previous Quiz : Quiz on Literary Forms Gothic Literature : 20 MCQs
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Thank you dear ʘ‿ʘ
Excellent plateform and very helpful for English candidate….
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