Theme : English ballads in the 14th and 15th century

Conclusion
Narrative is one of the most important features of a ballad. Scholars believe that the narrative poem and song originated from Germanic traditions of storytelling such as that seen in ‘Beowulf’. The earliest example of a ballad form in England is ‘Judas’ which is included in a 13th-century manuscript. It tells the story of Christ giving Judas 30 pieces of silver to buy food for the apostles. But, when Judas is on his way to the market, he is intercepted by his sister who steals his money. This leads to the pivotal moment in which Judas cells Christ to the Romans for the same number of silver pieces. In other poems, the ballad story relies greatly on imagery which can range from the tragic to the historical to the comedic.
We can conclude that Joseph Rudyard Kipling’s innovative experiments with the genre form of ballade contributed much to the further development of medieval genre traditions in English poetry, popularization of ballade with the readers of the British Empire, and revival of interest to it.

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