BALLAD. The name is of Italian origin (ballate), and meant originally a dance-song. being derived from the mid. Lat.. ballare or ba/are, corresponding to the Cr. ballizein, to .dance. The B. is a kind of poem which it iS very difficult to characterize. In the course of centuries it has undergone various transformations, and the name has been transferred to pieces which in extent, subject, and character have no longer anything in common with the primitive ballad. The confusion of ideas was rendered still worse from the circumstance that poems of exactly the same nature were styled sometimes romances, sometimes ballads, sometimes epic or lyrico-epic, or poetic narrativcs; so that it was left to the caprice of the poet which of these generic names he would give to his production. As early as the 12th c. the Italians gave the title of B. to short, purely lyrical pieces, allied to the sonnet or still more to the madrigal, and which generally had love-sorrows for their subject. Dante has such ballate. Akin to these are those French ballads which Molii.:re set himself against, and which fell Into disuse. The earliest bal lads, as the word is now understood, are those of England and of Scotland, beginning about the 14th century. They in so far resemble the Spanish romances, that the subject in both is narrative, and handled lyrically. See LYRIC. The Spanish romance, however, has more of the lyrical element, and is of a gayer cast, reflecting the southern character of the people; while the northern B. took a more earnest, somber shape, especially among the Danes; though in the n. also there are ballads of a cheerful and sportive tone.
• As far as subject is concerned, the B. is a species of minor epic (q.v.). The name is generally applied to a versified narrative, in a simple, popular, and often rude style, of some valorous exploit, or some tragic or touching story. Ballads are adapted to be sung Or accompanied by an instrument. They are comparatively short, the story cumscribed, and not embracing a combination of events, as the plan of the grand epic does. There can be little doubt that the B. has been the first form of poetry among all
nations; and that the earlier epics or heroic poems of the higher kind, such as the Spanish Cid or the German Nibehingen, grew out of such simple beginnings. Of the popular B., Scotland, or more correctly the border-land of Scotland and England, is -allowed to have produced tbe best examples—DA 0erl, Ckdde,, Piz& Helen of larksonnel Lee, and many others. As a B. of modern composition may be instanced Goldsmith's Edwin and Angelina.
Many of the old popular songs of the Germanic nations are just narratives of epic events and incidents in which the feelings of the composer manifest themselves. But the name of B. was not then in use, and such poetical narratives were called simply songs, or more specifically perhaps lays (Ger. loch). It was not till the last half of the 18th e. that the foreign name was transferred to them.
The B. has, in recent times, been cultivated chiefly by the Germans, and in their hands, it has assumed a more artificial development. Burger may-be said to be the cre ator of the modern ballad. He was intimately acquainted with the more simple Scotch and English B. poetry; but while adhering to its spirit, be gave to his own compositions a far wider extent, surrounded his narration with descriptions of scenery and other decorations, and by means of dialogue imparted to them the vivacity of the drama. His Leonore has become at once classical and popular. Burger, Schiller, GOthe, and Uldand are the greatest German names in this department of composition. Following the practice of these writers, it has become common to confine the name B. to an epic narrative with something fabulous and supernatural in the background. In this sense, G6the's Erlkonig is a ballad; and Coleridge's Ancient Alizriner is perhaps the best exemplification iu English.