medieval ballads
Old narrative verses
Medieval ballads are narrative poems or songs from the Middle Ages, typically anonymous, passed down orally before being written down.
They tell dramatic stories—often of love, death, betrayal, or the supernatural—in simple, repetitive verse with refrains.
The ballad of Barbara Allen and Lord Randall are classic examples.
The form influenced later literary ballads by known poets.
- murder balladsSongs narrating killings
- tragic lovePassion ending in loss
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- bardPoet of epics
- common meterAlternating eight-six syllable lines
broadside ballads · romance · oral tradition · epic poetry · refrain · folklore · folk song · wandering minstrel · morality tales · penny dreadful · troubadours · sung · supernatural · courtly · true love · fair lady · knight · forest green
medieval balladsmodern poetry
Recent literary verse forms
modernist poetry · slam poetry · spoken word · ancient epics
medieval balladsfree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
prose poetry · experimental poetry · stream of consciousness · confessional poetry · haiku