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://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
