When I saw that WLD wrote I say again to you. You aren't an academic in some fusty old library. What do YOU need these definitions for? What can they be there for, except the ignoble desire to think yourself superior to another artist and discount their artistic endeavour? I tried to work out whether a particular person or a general audience was being addressed.

Speaking for myself;
I do have some (admittedly minor) academic pretensions; I've done some formal research that has been recognised and published and a large amount of my life has been spent dealing with academics, not many of whom, these days, are confined to libraries. But I like getting to the nitty gritty of an idea, and sometimes you need to be familiar with the reductionist techniques that seem to be behind some of this thread's criticisms; it's not helpful to be overwhelmed by them but they can be helpful.

Depending on the particulars of a discussion (certainly the topic and the audience, as well as the purpose) I need to understand particularities of the various definitions. Otherwise the discussion is likely to go, endlessly, around in circles; we're all familiar with that.

One of the characteristics thought to be universal among human thinking is the ability to observe collections of entities and draw out patterns and differences, allowing for categorisations (however real or relative) and encouraging interpretation (ditto). Even though I've been familiar with ballads (mostly sung, but some recited) from before I could walk and I've become familiar with more formal concepts involving them since before I reached my majority, I'm still learning things, some of them from this discussion.

People's discussion styles vary but nowhere (so far) have I got the impression that any of the posters has had a desire (ignoble or otherwise) to think themselves superior.

As an aside, anyone who could even contemplate writing a song on the themes Coleridge deals with needs all the encouragement we could give them. All power to your elbow WLD; go for it!

Cheers, Rowan