1. Ballads

2. Folk ballads originated during the Middle Ages among the common people and are admired for their wisdom and psychological portraits of people.
Characteristics of a Ballad
A ballad is a song or song-like poem that tells a story. It dramatizes a single incident.
Each four-line stanza, known as a quatrain, has four stressed syllables in the first and third lines and three stressed syllables in the second and fourth ones.
The rhyme scheme is usually abcb.
The narrative is usually advanced through dialogue, action, and use of question and answer dialogue.

3. As you read the selected ballads, analyze each by identifying each of the characteristics below:
Supernatural events 
Identify the single incident. It may be sensational, sordid, or tragic
Omission of detail such as description or characterization
Incremental repetition of phrases or sentences
Refrain (a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or a poem)
Question –and-answer format
Conventional phrases with specific symbolic or metaphoric meanings
Rhythm (ballad stanza) and rhyme pattern
What wisdom is taught through this ballad?
Describe the psychological portrait of the main character that is being painted.