Top 15 Ballad Poems

01. The Lady of Shalott

This ballad was first published in 1842 which represents a difference between art and life. Lady of Shalott here is seen to lock in a room and is not allowed to look outside the window. But Lancelot one of the members of Arthur's round table attracts him and this temptation caused her cursed and leads her to death.

02. Barbara Allan

It is a traditional ballad which is first referred by Pepys in 1666. In this poem or ballad poem Sir John's love for Allan is described. Sir John accuses that the reason of his sickness is his love for her. But on the contrary Barbara Allan always refuses to love him.

03. The Host of the Air

This is an old ballad of English version. The bread and wine symbolizes Jesus where The Host of the Air indicates bread and wine. In this ballad a man is seen to dream about his newly married wife who has been stolen by a young man when he is card games and eating bread as well as drinking wine.

04. The Ballad of East and West

This ballad poem is about an Afghan warrior and an English colonel whose horse is seized by Kamal, the Afghan warrior. The phrase- "East is East and West is West'' tells that these two parts of the word are not subject to meet until the day of judgement comes. But the main characters Kamal and the colonel's son proves that each territory can mix up if they keep aside their racism, religion and approach with their nobility and bravery.

05. The Ballad of Reading Gaol

This poem is first published in 1987. Just after become free from prison Oscar Wilde composed this ballad where he describes about prisoned life and his struggle in the prison. The harsh realities of prisoned life as well as the life of execution is revealed in this poem.

06. The Ballad of Moll Magee

This is one of the famous ballads of W.B. Yeats where the protagonist tells her story to the children that once she killed her little child just after returning from outside. She tells her poverty is one reason for the death of her child and that why her husband leaves her but she has no feeling for her husband rather than she always thinks about her dead child.

07. The Elfin Knight

There are a lot of supernatural elements in The Elfin Knight which is recognised as traditional ballad. It is also reachable to the children. It is the story of a maiden who summons the Elfin Knight into her bedroom but when the Knight tells he has wife and children in his house she rejects him and the Knight disappears.

08.The Ballad of the White Horse

This poem was first published in 1911. Here in this ballad poem the speaker describes how the Danes are defeated in the battle of Ethandum by Alfred. It is the struggle between Christianity  and pagan religion.

09. The Cruel Mother

This ballad refers to the story of a mother who randomizely kills her children. After giving birth a  child every time she kills it and buries in in the forest. But interestingly this woman feels some love for other children playing in the street but she is mocked by those children for her heinous deed.

10. The Three Ravens

It is a folk ballad and was first published in 1611. The ballad tells the story about three birds who is seen to discuss where and what they should at that moment. One suggests that they should eat the body of recently dead knight. Finally they were unsuccessful to see the knight to be buried.

11. The Demon Lover

This ballad poem tells about the story of two lovers; love between Mrs. Drover and a soldier. To keep his promise the soldier again returns to Mrs. Drover during the world war ii. After reading the letter when Mrs. Drover rushes to the country house she discovers that the taxi driver is the soldier himself.

12. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The ancient mariner tells his life story to a wedding guest. On the time of his youth how he killed an Albatross and brought bad luck to the crew. It seems a sin to the crew to kill the albatross thats why they cursed the ancient mariner. Finally after a lot of sufferings the ancient mariner realizes that showing respect to all the creatures means showing respect to God.

13. Lord Randal

Lord Randal tells the story of a unlucky lover who is killed or poisoned by his beloved. After returning from her beloved, his mother asks her where he was. The Lord tells he was in the forest for hunting and had the dinner with his beloved. Lord Randal gradually becomes sick as he was poisoned by his sweetheart during the dinner.

14. The Twa Sisters

In this ballad the younger sister is killed by her own elder sister because she was jealous of her younger sister's fair skin and handsome suit. The corpse of the younger sister is found by a musician whose musical instrument helps him to find out the murderer.

15. The Wife of Usher’s Well

It is the story of a mother who sends her sons in the sea but very soon she hears that all of them died. After mourning some time using her magical power she gets back her sons for a night. In the morning the sons again goes away where they have come from.

Works Cited:

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/thematic_poems/ballad_poems_4.html

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-lady-of-shalott-by-tennyson-summary-poem-analysis-interpretation.html

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/47550/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Reading_Gaol

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch084.htm

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/3942/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Ravens

https://betterknowachildballad.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/child-10-twa-sisters/

http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/59505.html