Ballad Examples

Ballad Examples Ballad Before language was written, cultures passed traditional stories and histories down through oral language. These were called ballads. Later, poets wrote ballads-narrative poems. These poems that tell a story typically use simple language and repetition. Examples of Ballad: "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"-Coleridge A wedding guest is stopped by an old mariner, who tells him the story of a fateful journey, on which he shot an albatross and a curse seems to descend upon his ship and crew. "Lord Randall"-Anonymous Upon returning from a hunt, a young man answers his mother's questions about the hunt and reveals that he has been poisoned. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"-Keats A knight tells a story about a mysterious and beautiful fairy who woos him, but then he dreams about her conquests-who are all dead now-and wakes up in a field. "The Lady of Shalott"-Tennyson Narrative about a mysterious Lady who lives in a castle on the Isle of Shalott which is on the way to Camelot. "Annabelle Lee"-Poe Haunting poem in which the speaker tells the story of his love for his dead bride. "The Ballad of Moll Magee"-Yeats Moll Magee tells the story of how she accidentally killed her baby by laying on it while she was sleeping.