We cannot trace the origin of the ownership, yet later literary figures found out that these folk epics were written by well-known personalities. Ballad FormsĮpic can be divided into two categories known as folk or traditional epic and literary or art Epic.įolk Epic is originally transmitted from one generation to another orally. Ballads which were originally considered a low form of art was eventually raised to a better status by writers like Oscar Wilde and Samuel Coleridge. During this time of literature, single ballads were published as broadsides, which were large sheets of paper that featured a single poem.

By 17 th and 18 th centuries, English writers popularized ballads with the use of printing press. This is also believed to be originated from France, and the oldest surviving ballads are dated back to the 14 th century. The word Ballad originated from the Latin word, Ballare which means dancing song. Both these forms of art revolved around themes of adventure and romance, which featured characters with heroic qualities. The music used for these forms were composed around a repetitive poetic structure and was easily memorized and recognizable. The key difference between ballad and epic ballads is their length ballads usually focuses on a single episode of a story and are shorter in length.īallads and Epics were normally performed for audiences often with the use of music. Narrative Poetry, which is about verbal representation in verse, has a sequence of connected events which drives characters through a plot.

Ballads and Epics are two primary literary forms that belong to narrative poetry. Poetry can be categorized into three basic types known as lyric poetry, descriptive or didactic poetry and narrative poetry.

Epic meaning literature