The Ballad

Ballad recalls dancing and therefore the importance of music and the musical
elements. Ballads were oral forms of poetry. In the Middle Ages
singing was very popular as well as dancing as a form of pastime.
Ballads were generally dealing with common topics like: tragic love
stories, the supernatural and the battles between England and
Scotland.

All the devices of sound were employed.

Only in the 17th and 18th century Ballads were collected and recorded in written language.

The title is very important.

The Ballads tell us the characters' social role. It is an iconic use of language.

Few references to space and time → the reader can understand the development of the story.

Popular form of poetry.

Use of dialects.

Very concrete matter of language.

Sound devices were useful to make the Ballad memorable and to be remembered which helped to pass the song from generations to generations.

Mixture of dialogue and narration.

Language is concrete and matter in fact.

Medieval → not to make mistakes = perfection! 

LADY DIAMOND
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- The ballad is made up of 13 four-line stanzas.
- It has not got a regular rhyme scheme, but sometimes they are alternated.
- The story is told through narration by an omniscient narrator but you can find also dialogs. Descriptive passages are short and concise.
- The language is concrete and the style simple.
- This beginning remind me a fable and it told us an indefinite time and space, while the ballad does not say that; both talk about a king and his daughter.
- The second stanza refers to autumns: "till the grass overgrew the corn".
- The fourth stanza refers to winter because the text says "on a winter's night".
- Lady Diamond's hands are lily and white to underline her noble origins while the boy's breast is white to underline the purity of his soul.
- Lady Diamond knows that she disobeyed her father so she prays him not to end their love.
- I think, the singer's attitude seems to stand by the girl.

THE HOUSE CARPENTER
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- The man is a seaman who said to be rich and he is fallen in love with the wife of a house carpenter. They have got a relationship, but it is temporary.
- The man said he could have married the King's daughter and become rich but he preferred the love of the girl.
- The man wants the girl to leave her husband, her son and her house and to go away with him.
- She needs to know if the man is rich or not.
- Once she has left, she misses her baby.
- The ship sinks and they die
- Here I can find the repetition, the alliteration, and the rhyme, the use of concrete language and the theme of the tragic love and religion.
- The sea captain is the tempter devil. It reminds me the episode of the snake who tempted Eva to eat the apple.
- Heaven is fair and high, while Hell is dark and low.
- Heaven is a forbidden place for the lovers because sometimes they go against the wil of God.