There's a time and place for ballads, and I agree that a song circle with limited time and lots of people waiting for a turn is not the time to choose one of the long ones.   But it's possible to sing ballads and get modern audiences interested. When I regularly worked Sunday evenings at a pub there was a crowd of regulars who came in. When things were quiet I'd introduce a ballad or two - for example if I did Mattie Groves I'd describe it as a story that would have been the equivalent of a "National Enquirer" scandal in 15th century England - or something of the sort. After a while they got to know the songs and we'd have ballad evenings with requests for things like "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow", "Annochie Gordon", "The Two Sisters". The regulars would get upset when a different crowd would come in and demand the pub stuff!

And I don't agree about there not being much "poetry" in ballads. Often there is a turn of a phrase, or a well placed word - that just sends chills up my spine.