Ballads, described by F.B. Gum as "a poem meant for singing, quite impersonal in material, probably connected in its origins with the communal dance, but submitted to a process of oral tradition among people who are free from literary influences and fairly homogeneous in character," had been circulating through England by oral tradition long before the Renaissance. The Renaissance, however, marked a new age because the rise of the printing press allowed for ballads to be printed on broadsides(also referred to as broadsheets) and sold.
"A Merry Party" by Jan Steel, c.1660 Web Gallery of Art
In his article, Everyday Custom and Popular Culture, Michael Bristol claims us that “Ballads were intended for the less well-educated sector in the cultural economy,” (Bristol 130). While ballads were very popular among the lower classes, all social classes did participate in the writing and singing of the musical artform. However, in order to keep ballads accesible to persons who could not read literature or music, ballads were generally created in a way that would make them easy for anyone to learn. Most popular ballads of the English Renaissance contained similar elements. Typical themes included love, courage, and violence. Attention is given to detail and description of actions and characters in the ballad. The ballad is sung as a story being told, and can involve much dialogue. A stanza was typically no longer than four lines, and rhymes, usually found in the “abcb” pattern, were only approximate. Repetition is common, and the song is often closed with a concluding, or summarizing stanza. Early ballads were not written to original music, but were simply sung to a popular tune that most people would know. Often times, ballads told a story that could easily be remembered or improvised if necessary.
Woodcut of a cittern, a popular, yet affordable renaissance music instrument for musicians.
For those who participated in the singing of ballads, the purchasing of broadside ballads, or just watched as others sang and celebrated the ballad, the musical form was one where commoners could let out their personal views and frustrations with their world surrounding them. Ballads which have been found from the English renaissance exhibit the issues of the common working class life. “Many of the printed ballads that have been preserved are concerned with themes of sexual desire, marital dissatisfaction and deception, family discord, and the regulation and surveillance of gender difference. There are ballads of shrewish wives, ballads about cuckolded husbands, ballads about how to find a husband or wife,” (Bristol 131). In short, ballads allowed for the common expression of common concerns. See the example below of an excerpt from A Gest of Robyn Hode edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas Ohlgren. Originally published in Robin Hood and Other outlaw Tales, 1997:
Notice the easy to remember story line and simple rhyme os the text. One might also notice the dialect present in the work; the language and spellings do not appear to be that of the well educated. From what we learn of Robin Hood so far in the text, he is not opposed to taking from the rich, "Here shal come a lord or sire/That may pay for the best," yet has already noted his kind heart towards the less fortunate. He says to Little John that he is not particularly concerned with eating until he has an "unkouth gest." Here, the concerns of th poor are reflected in the work. We also learn later in the text that Robin hood expresses reverence for the religious ideas of Renaissance England at the time. All of these elements would be very typical of an English Renaissance ballad.
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