balladry

Traditional storytelling songs

Balladry is the art or practice of composing or performing ballads—narrative songs or poems that tell stories, often of love, tragedy, or heroic deeds.

The term also refers to ballads collectively as a body of work: the balladry of the Scottish Highlands, traditional folk balladry.

It carries a slightly literary or antiquarian flavor.

poetic-form

stanza

Poem's line grouping

verseMetered poetic passage
rhymeMatching terminal sounds
meterDevice that measures usage

quatrain · couplet · refrain · repetition · iambic · tetrameter · trimeter · lyrical · formulaic

folklore

minstrel

Traveling performer of songs

bardPoet of epics
griotAfrican oral tradition keeper
troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet

broadside · traditional · ancestral · chapbook

narrative

storytelling

Recounting events aloud

taleSpoken or written narrative
sagaExtended heroic narrative
chronicleOrdered historical record

legend · yarn · account · recital · dramatic · episodic · refrain

melancholy

lament

Mournful expression of grief

sorrowfulFilled with grief
plaintiveSounding sad, sorrowful
wistfulSadly longing for something

mournful · dirge · elegy · heartache · longing · forlorn · tragic · woeful · pensive · bittersweet

romance

serenade

Outdoor romantic performance

courtshipSeeking another's romantic favor
passionIntense emotional drive
devotionDeep, loyal commitment

yearning · wooing · sweetheart · lover · beloved · tryst · pining · unrequited · faithful · forsaken

balladry

stanza

minstrel

storytelling

lament

serenade

balladry

Opposites

Phrases

Categories

Family