what is a ballad poem

A ballad is a type of poem that tells a story, often in a musical or rhythmic form. It is typically composed of quatrains-four-line stanzas-with a rhyme scheme commonly ABAB or ABCB, where the second and fourth lines rhyme. The meter is usually iambic, meaning alternating unstressed and stressed syllables, often with eight syllables in the first and third lines and six in the second and fourth. Ballads are narrative in nature, meaning they recount a story with a beginning, middle, and end, often involving romantic, heroic, tragic, or comedic events. Historically, ballads originated as folk songs and were sometimes set to music, featuring a refrain or repeated chorus like a song. This form has been popular from medieval times through the Romantic period and continues today in poetry and music, including many love songs considered ballads