Ballad- its a narrative poem that is intended to be sung; thus a story told in a song.

Love song- A song w/ intimacy & love. Its a subset of songs or a romantic ballad. Hence, it can deal w/ the darker side such as infidelity & breakups…

Hope I helpedÜ

Their language is simple (usually monosyllabic or disyllabic Anglo-Saxon lexis, rather than complex, latinate diction), with a bluntness which enhances the emotional impact, often in local dialect, and there are usually no metaphors or other imagery (making it different from much love poetry). This is poetry which simply tells a shocking story in stark, in-your-face language, rather than dressing it up in fancy terms.

Repetition is, however, often used to enhance the emotional impact, and dialogue is sometimes used to make it more dramatic and so the facts of the story are slowly drip-fed to the audience.

It originated (I think!) in the Middle Ages, when ballads were almost like the tabloid newspapers of their day – a way in which sensational news could be memorised and sung or recited from village to village until the story had done the rounds. The subject matter was very much like the subject matter of the modern gutter press – gruesome murders, love triangles etc, so not soppy love poems at all.

Traditional ballads are often Irish or Scottish in origin (well-known traditional ballads include “Edward, Edward”, “Lord Randal”, “The Daemon Lover”).

The form was revived in the 19th century as part of the general mediaeval revival fashionable then. Well-known 19th century ballads include Christina Rossetti’s “Noble Sisters”, Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, Keats’s “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”