A ballad, to me, is a good story well sung. I think as a culture we've lost the patience to listen to a good story poorly sung, and so we do have something we can call a modern ballad These are songs that are superbly written literary gems in which the story "is" the song. The moral message (if there is one) is carried through action, dialogue and the development of an engaging story line. The chorus, if there is one, points the listener back into the complexity of story. (quite the opposite of modern country songs which are sometimes, and I think erroneously, refered to as ballads). Any chorus shoud be subtle and not editorialize the message for someone who might not get it. A good modern ballad is stylistically a natural evolution of the more ancient ballads, but there is a huge difference in how they are created and transmitted. Modern ballads survive as the gifts of highly skilled writers who have chosen a song to tell their story. I speak as someone who has been performong ballads from the same corner of the same small tavern for over twenty years. I experience what works and doesn't work in a very real and immediate way. A good modern ballad is an intensely moving and often emotional experience. Thank god for folk songs to add levity and communtty to the evening. But that is another arguement...