The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113833   Message #2426807
Posted By: dick greenhaus
31-Aug-08 - 11:27 AM
Thread Name: definition of a ballad
Subject: RE: definition of a ballad
Broadsides may or may not have been ballads (narratives); same goes for folk songs. Why complicate things? Child recognized at least two classes of ballad (Popular and Broadside), other sub-classes are certainly possible. But defining a ballad as a song that tells a story gives us, at least, a classification of such songs--a useful one, IMO.