Categories of English ballads

1. Folklore, mostly remembering ghosts and spirits, and the interactions between forest gods and men, such as "Thomas the Singer". Two Crows" recounts the birds and beasts; "The Woman of Usher's Well", the ghosts of three drowned sons visit their mothers every night, and faded away when the chickens crowed, showing the pure and simple mother's deep pain of bereavement in a seemingly superstitious legend.

2, family tragedy, written between the family members of the tragedy, "two sisters" in the sister jealousy vendetta; "Edward" in the son under the instruction of his mother to kill his father.

3, love stories, most of them are also tragic endings. Wattles Junior" in the infatuation of the woman, with the love of the lover's firm love, accepted the almost cruel test, reflecting the unfortunate fate of women in the feudal era; "beautiful Barbara Alain" in the young man and woman both martyred.

4, historical stories and heroic achievements, such as the famous "Cheviot Hills hunt", "the Battle of Otterburn", depicting the war between Britain and Scotland.

5, comic ballads, full of folk humor, light-hearted fun. The husband who is afraid of his wife is often the subject of ridicule. A farmer's wife" in the shrewish wife even the devil is inferior to a few points; "up to bolt the door" in the lazy husband and wife would rather freeze than get up and bolt the door, who agreed to open the door who went first. Then two gentlemen come in and make a mess and force the husband to open his mouth, and the wife is so happy that she sings, "Good man, you've spoken the first word, get up and bolt the door." The most popular ballad was about Robin Hood. Robin Hood gathered a group of homesteaders and formed a brotherhood of the woods, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. They hated state officials and robbed only knights and monks. Robin Hood's companions included Big Man, nicknamed "Little John", Duke, a fastidious monk, and Mary Ann, who loved Robin Hood. 1500s "Little Songs of Robin Hood's Heroic Deeds" tried to unify the many ballads about Robin Hood. 1500s, when the English peasants were living in poverty, the Peasants' Riot under the leadership of Cadet broke out in 1450, protesting against heavy taxation and servitude policies. protested against the policy of heavy taxation and servitude and against aristocratic oppression. Robin Hood's ballads reflected the oppressed people's feelings of resistance and ideals of life. The ballads were rich in content, natural style, and had a great influence on later literature, especially in the second half of the 18th century, the "Ballad Revival" emerged, and became one of the pioneering forces of the romantic movement.