What is a Ballad?

Ballads

            Ballads can come in many shapes and sizes, but most ballads have a very similar format. Most classical ballads are written in a four line stanza. The ballad, “Frankie and Johnny” sung by Elvis Presley, is not like most ballads because it has five line stanzas, and even a six line stanza. Another fact that makes up a ballad is the use of repetition. Throughout “Frankie and Johnny”, the words “doing her wrong” appear in every stanza. This great ballad can be compared to other modern ballads, like “You Give Love a Bad Name” sung by Bon Jovi. There is also artwork that this ballad can relate to. Ballads are actually poems that are easy to read, easy to interpret, and easy to sing.

            “Frankie and Johnny” follows the format of a medieval ballad very well, except for the amount of stanzas. Besides repetition, the poem uses dialogue.  Dialogue is used in ballads to more accurately describe what is going on. In the ballad, Johnny says, “Frankie, I beg, Please don’t shoot me”, and the reader can tell it is the climax of the poem. This ballad also has rhyming pattern to it, which gives it the sing-song feel. The general pattern is a rhyme in the second and forth line in the stanza, and the last line repeats itself in every stanza. The rhyming, dialogue, and repetition are all factors that make thing poem, a ballad.

            The ballad is a story about a man and a woman, Johnny and Frankie, who love each other very much. One day, Johnny goes to a bar and starts playing poker with a new woman, Nelle Bly. The two of them start kissing, when suddenly, Frankie walks in with a .44 caliber gun. Johnny then begins begging Frankie not to shoot him, and tells her that the police will put her “away in a cell” if she shot him. The ballads then ends with Johnny saying, “this is the end of my song”, which means that Frankie shot him, and now he is dying. Johnny dies feeling sorry for cheating on Frankie. The ballad is thought to be related to the October 15, 1899 shooting, which was between Frankie Baker and Allen “Al” Britt. Frankie Baker, who was 22, shot her lover, Allen, when she caught him with Alice Pryor. Frankie then shot Allen, who would die a few days later. Frankie was brought to trial, with her excuse being the “self-defense” claim. Many years later, Frankie would die while at a mental institution.

            This ballad is easily comparable to more recent ballads, such as “You give Love a Bad Name”, and also medieval paintings. In the ballad “You give Love a Bad Name”, a man is singing about how a women hurt him very deeply, by emotionally shooting him. This is like how Frankie shot Johnny, except it was physically harming him. Either way, both the men were sad about the women hurting them, and they were sorry for whatever they did wrong. The medieval painting of “Woman and her ex, observing anniversary of his affair” is a painting with women by the candlelight holding the skull of her ex. Her ex was supposedly cheating on her, just like in “Frankie and Johnny”, and he was killed. The painting titled “Fagin in the Condemned Cell” was done by George Crulkshank, who painted a picture of a man sitting in a cell. Johnny warned Frankie before she shot him that the police would put her in jail if she shot him, but she did not listen. Many poets write ballads about love affairs, because they are trying to teach readers that one should only love one person.

            “Frankie and Johnny” will be a ballad that will keep reappearing throughout time. The lovers’ names might not be Frankie and Johnny, but their story will be. This ballad teaches people to be loyal to one person, and not to commit adultery. Even in modern ballads, this moral keeps reappearing, such as in the ballad, “You Give Love a Bad Name”. Unfortunately, these ballads do not end in forgiveness, but instead ends with murder or broken hearts. The poets who write the ballads are trying to tell stories that will change the way humans act, if only they will listen. Because if they do, they can easily read it, interpret it, and use the knowledge they have learned from it.