A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain (but not always). The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends.
They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, or common meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming. (xaxa)

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