The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #166098 Message #3991849
Posted By: GUEST,Pseudonymous
11-May-19 - 05:21 PM
Thread Name: If you don't like ballads......
Subject: RE: If you don't like ballads......
Al, you're welcome. Can't do links like yours, so thanks for giving one.
The OED is interesting, as it gives examples of the various definitions in use: I can get at it by typing my library card into the county library digital link at home. Maybe you can do this where you are?
I looked up this again recently when reading a piece on blues relating to a claim that a 'lyric' by Thomas Wyatt was a) a folk song b) a ballad c) proto-blues. They aren't even sure that at that time (ie Wyatt's) 'lyrics' were to be sung, and today the word can mean something like a poem that isn't a narrative. And the piece in question was not a 'ballad' on any definition! But to claim Thomas Wyatt wrote folk stuff seemed a bit of a stretch to me.
Pseud