Ballad

Definitions: Ballad

Ballad

Noun

1. A narrative song with a recurrent refrain.

2. A narrative poem of popular origin.

Date "ballad" was first used: 14th century. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Ballad

Domain	Definitions
Literature	Ballad means, strictly, a song to dance-music, or a song sung while dancing. (Italian, ballare, to dance, ballata, our ballad, ballet [q.v.]). Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Ballad

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A ballad is a narrative, rhythmic saga of a past affair, which may be heroic, romantic or satirical, almost inevitably catastrophic, which is related in the third person, usually with foreshortened alternating four- and three-stress lines ('ballad meter') and simple repeating rhymes, and often with a refrain."

The origin of the word suggested something that could be danced to. Ballads are most often folk poetry in a musical format, passed along orally from generation to generation, set to conventional tunes and usually sung by a solo voice, the hearers joining in the refrain. Until written, the content evolves and changes over time, unlike a more literary poem. For further discussion, see Folk music.

Unlike more traditional poetry, ballads do not use a large amount of explanation. The narrative is usually simple, clear and easy to read. Emotion is usually kept to a minimum, and the motives of characters are rarely probed in any great detail. Dialogue is kept to an economical level, but frequently used to empower the language.

Repetition and refrains are also used in many ballads. This is a strong resemblance to many forms of traditional music. Many traditional ballads have themes related to the supernatural, and occasionally ballads contain a moral dimension to them, usually expressed in a final verse..

Broadsheet ballads

Broadsheet ballads, cheaply printed and often topical, humorous, even mildly subversive, were hawked in English streets from the 16th century; the legends of Robin Hood and the pranks of Puck were disseminated through broadsheet ballads.

Literary ballads

Literary ballads are those composed and written formally. The form, with its connotations of simple folkloric authenticity, became popular with the rise of Romanticism in the later 18th century. Literary ballads may then be set to music, as Schubert's Die Erlkönig, set to a literary ballad by Goethe. In Romantic opera a ballad set into the musical texture may emphasize or play against the theatrical moment. Atmospheric ballads in operas were initiated in Weber's Der Freischütz and include Senta's ballad in Wagner's Fliegender Holländer, or the 'old song' 'Salce' Desdemona sings in Verdi's Otello. Compare the stanza-like structure and narrative atmosphere of the musical Ballades for solo piano of Chopin or Brahms.

Ballad opera

A particularly English form, the ballad opera, has as its most famous example John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which inspired the 20th-century cabaret operas of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (q.v.).

Francis James Child, Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg were early collectors and publishers of ballads from the oral tradition and broadsheets. They also wrote new ballads. Many ballads are referenced in scholarly works by their number in Child's compilation. The American poet Carl Sandburg was influenced by ballads, and published a collection he had assembled as The American Songbag (1927).

The form of a ballad has been imitated in modern poetry— most notably by the Canadian ballads of Robert Service, in Kipling's 'Road to Mandalay' or in 'Casey at the Bat.' 'The Ballad of the Bread-man', is Charles Causley's re-telling of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Many modern written musical ballads are in the repertory of American folk music.

Jazz ballad

The jazz ballad is a sentimental narrative adagio akin to a blues song. The regrets of love gone wrong provide the elements of the ballad called a 'torch song.' By extension, any popular song with a slow beat is termed a 'ballad.' In modern music, a song called a ballad is one which tells a story but may not follow any of the other conventions. Many styles of music such as rock, pop, and country label some songs as ballads.

Famous Ballads

Traditional
- Barbara Allen
- Sir Patrick Spens
- Lord Randall
- Ballad of Jesse James
- Henry Martin
- The Three Ravens
- Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
- Tam Lin
- The Cruel Brother
- The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
- Mary Tamlin
- Many ballads of Robin Hood
- Ballad of Chevy Chase
- The Battle of Otterburn
- The Battle of Harlaw
- The Gypsie Laddie
- Golden Vanity
- Verner Raven - oldest Scandanavian ballad with music
Modern
- Ballad of the Alamo
- Ballad of the Green Berets
- Ballad of Davy Crockett

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ballad."

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Synonym: Ballad

Synonym: lay (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Ballad

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Poetry	Song, ballad, lay; love song, drinking song, war song, sea song; lullaby; music; nursery rhymes.
	Poet, poet laureate; laureate; bard, lyrist, scald, skald, troubadour, trouvere; minstrel; minnesinger, meistersinger; improvisatore; versifier, sonneteer; rhymer, rhymist, rhymester; ballad monger, runer; poetaster; genus irritabile vatum.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Ballad

English words defined with "ballad": ballad maker, Ballad monger, Balladry, battle of Brunanburh, Brunanburh ♦ Casey Jones, common measure, common meter ♦ folk ballad ♦ Harry Lauder ♦ John Luther Jones, Jones ♦ Lauder ♦ Sir Harry MacLennan Lauder, song thrush ♦ Villanel. (references)

Specialty definitions using "ballad": Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, Beth Gelert ♦ Casabianca, Castle of Bungay, Champion of England, Chevy Chase ♦ Darby and Joan, Dowsabell ♦ Fakenham Ghost ♦ Gilderoy's Kite, Gilpin, Glasgow Arms ♦ Hair, Hairs, Hotch-potch ♦ Imogine, Inchcape Rock ♦ Jemmy Dawson ♦ Lucy and Colin ♦ Molly Mog ♦ Nut-brown Maid ♦ Rood-loft, Rowland ♦ Skogan ♦ Ullin ♦ Well of St. Keyne. (references)

Etymologies containing "ballad": Ballade. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Ballad" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses.

Swedish (ballad, ballade, lay).

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Modern Usage: Ballad

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	The Ballad of Paul Bunyan (1973) Ballad (1968) The Ballad of Crowfoot (1968) Ballad in Blue (1965) The Stowaway Dog Ballad of Hector (1964)
Song Titles	The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (performing artist: Georgie Fame) BALLAD OF BONNIE & CLYDE (performing artist: Georgie Fame ) Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, The (performing artist: Leonard Nimoy) The Ballad of The Green Berets (performing artist: S/Sgt. Barry Sadler) BALLAD OF GREEN BERETS (performing artist: Ssgt. Barry Sadler )
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Ballad

Domain	Title
Books	An Undeniable Rogue: The Rogue's Club (Zebra Ballad Romance) (reference) Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 (Caldecott Honor Book, 2001) (reference) Complete Novels: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter/Reflections in a Golden Eye/the Ballad of the Sad Cafe/the Member of the Wedding/Clock Without Hands) (reference) Danny Boy: The Beloved Irish Ballad (reference) Skywriting by Word of Mouth: And Other Writings, Including the Ballad of John and Yoko (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Ballad of a Soldier - Criterion Collection (reference) The Ballad of Andy Crocker (reference) The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (reference) Ballad of a Soldier (reference) National Geographic's Ballad of the Irish Horse (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Ballad Session (reference) Nearness of You: The Ballad Book (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Ballad

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Sounds Captioned with "Ballad".

Play	Caption	Play	Caption
	A slow Latin jazz-style ballad with a guitar chordal solo.		Arpeggiated synthesizer chords in a soft ballad style.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Use in Literature: Ballad

Title	Author	Quote
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	This progress you will see easily in that old English ballad Turpin Hero which begins in the first person and ends in the third person.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Ballad

"Ballad" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.40% of the time. "Ballad" is used about 187 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	98.4%	184	22,714
Noun (proper)	1.6%	3	202,518
Total	100.00%	187	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Ballad

Expressions using "ballad": ballad maker ♦ Ballad monger ♦ ballad singer ♦ folk ballad. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "ballad": ballad-like, ballad-monger, ballad-opera, ballad-operas, ballad-singer, ballad-singing, ballad-style, ballad-type, ballad-writer, ballad-writers.
	Ending with "ballad": power-ballad, rock-ballad.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Ballad

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
ballad	386
monster ballad	133
power ballad	108
ballad and poem	99
ballad of the green beret	82
rock ballad	55
love ballad	42
ballad poetry	29
ballad of birmingham	27
ballad pour adeline	27
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Ballad

Language		Translations for "ballad"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		ballade (ballade). (various references)

Albanian		baladë (ballade, saga). (various references)

Arabic		‏قصيدة قصصية, ‏قصة شعرية, ‏أغنية راقصة, ‏أغنية شعبية (folk song, pop). (various references)

Bulgarian		епическа народна песен, балада (ballade, lay). (various references)

Chinese		短歌 , 民谣, 民� . (various references)

Czech		balada (chanson). (various references)

Dutch		ballade (ballade). (various references)

Esperanto		balado (ballade). (various references)

Faeroese		vísa (ballade, chanson, indicate, introduce, offer, point out, present, show, tender), kvæði (ballade). (various references)

Farsi		یک قطعه ء رومانتیک , تصنیف (Impromptu, Sing, Song), اوازیکنفری که دران داستان گفته شود, شعرافسانه ای . (various references)

Finnish		balladi (lay). (various references)

French		ballade (ballade). (various references)

German		ballade (ballade, lay). (various references)

Greek		μπαλάντα (lay). (various references)

Hebrew		שיר עם (folk song), פזמון (couplet, ditty), בל�"�". (various references)

Hungarian		ballada (ballade, lay). (various references)

Indonesian		balada, syair bercorak epis. (various references)

Italian		ballata (ballade). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		歌謡 (song). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ぞくよう (ditty, folk song, popular song, wordly matters), ぞっきょく (folk song), ぞっか (ditty, fold song, popular song, popularization, secularization, vulgarization), かよう (available, caring for the sick, comely face, floral leaf, in such a manner, like this, lotus leaf, lower leaves, solubilizing, soluble, song, taking care of oneself, to attend, to commute, to go back and forth, to ply between, Tuesday), �"うた, りよう (application, barbering, folk song, haircutting, hairdressing, popular song, use, utilization). (various references)

Manx		bannag (grilse). (various references)

Pig Latin		alladbay.(various references)

Portuguese		balada (ballade, lay). (various references)

Romanian		baladã (lay). (various references)

Russian		баллада (ballade, lay). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		balada (ballade, lay). (various references)

Spanish		balada (ballade). (various references)

Swedish		folkvisa (folk song, folk-song). (various references)

Turkish		balad, türkü (folk song, lay, song), koşuk (romance, verse), hikâyeli şiir, halk şarkısı (folk song), şarkı (band, lay, song). (various references)

Ukranian		народна пісня (folk song), балада (ballade). (various references)

Vietnamese		b� i ca balat, khúc balat. (various references)

Welsh		baled, dyri (lyric). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Ballad

Language	Period	Translations
Late Latin	300-700	ballare. (various references)
Italian	900-Modern	villanella. (various references)
Old French	900-1400	ballade. (various references)
Old Proven�al	900-1500	ballada. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Ballad

Derivations
	Words beginning with "ballad": ballade, balladeer, balladeers, ballades, balladic, balladist, balladists, balladries, balladry, ballads. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Ballad" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bala, balac, balad, balade, Balado, Balah, balai, balak, Balal, balam, Baland, Balao, Baldauf, Balfa, balid, balla, ballady, ballan, balland, ballbag, ballel, ballid, Ballou, ballum, Balmat, Balraj, Balslev, Baltard, Bellac, Bellak, Bellido, Bildad, billa, Billah, Billam, billard, Bjallas, Bl-lac, bullae, Bwllfa, mallad, Mballa, vallad. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Ballad"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "ballad" (pronounced ba"lud)
4	-a" l u d	pallid, salad, valid.
3	-l u d	annelid, invalid, solid, squalid, stolid.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Ballad

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-b-d-l-l"
	-2 letters: alba, baal, bald, ball.
	-3 letters: aal, aba, ala, alb, all, baa, bad, bal, dab, dal, lab, lad.
	-4 letters: aa, ab, ad, al, ba, la.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-b-d-l-l"
	+1 letter: ballade, ballads.
	+2 letters: ballades, balladic, balladry, caballed, djellaba, handball, hardball, laudable, laudably.
	+3 letters: balladeer, balladist, ballasted, blackland, blacklead, dilatable, djellabah, djellabas, handballs, hardballs, pleadable, sabadilla, tableland, wallboard.
	+4 letters: balladeers, balladists, balladries, banderilla, belladonna, blacklands, blackleads, declarable, diabolical, dialyzable, djellabahs, handleable, illaudable, illaudably, labialized, paddleball, radiolabel, sabadillas, tablelands, wallboards.
	+5 letters: abdominally, adverbially, applaudable, applaudably, ballyragged, banderillas, belladonnas, bidialectal, blackballed, blackmailed, displayable, gallbladder, labiodental, paddleballs, radiolabels, unballasted.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.