Question Home

Position:Home>Poetry> What is the difference between a Ballad and a Limerick?


Question: What is the difference between a Ballad and a Limerick!?
This is old Scottish ballad called MARY HAMILTON, sometimes called THE FOUR MARYS!.

*****
Last night there were four Marys
Tonight there'll be but three
There was Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton
And Mary Carmichael and me!.

Oh, often have I dressed my queen
And put on her braw silk gown
But all the thanks I've got tonight
Is to be hanged in Edinborough Town

Fill often have I dressed my queen
Put gold upon her hair
But I have got for my reward
The gallows to be my share!.

Oh little did my mother know
The day she cradled me
The land I was to travel in
The death I was to dee!.

Oh, happy, happy is the maid
That's born of beauty free
Oh, it was my rosy dimpled cheeks
That's been the devil to me!.

They'll tie a kerchief around my eyes
That I may not see to dee
And they'll never tell my father or mother
But that I'm across the sea!.

*****Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
A Limeri!.!.

There was a young man from Japan
Known as “Anti-climactical Dan”
Would create apprehension
By building the tension
Then finish!.


Think this link may have disappeared!. I'll try again:
http://www!.poetryofscotland!.co!.uk/Ballad!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The difference is: a ballad is something usually cast, as in fishing, during a voting process, and a Limerick is a short little funny bit that's usually about somebody from Nantucket or Dayton (or is it Eaton)!.
If anybody reading this thinks I'm serious !. !. !. well, you'd be right!.

That was a sad ballad!. Poor Mary Hamilton!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A ballad's quite a long piece!. Usually each stanza repeats a rhyme scheme (like the ABCB pattern in this one)!. There aren't any rules about the structure of the stanzas though!.

A limerick is a single stanza, and has a specific five line structure and rhyme scheme (AABBA)

Eg There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
His daughter called Nan
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nan tuck it!.

(Sorry, that's an awful one, but it's the only one I know which isn't rude!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

Nice ballad!.!.!.now where is the limerick!? Posing fictitious questions again!?

And what are we to make
surely not any fake
This man TD
Pavlov's CD!?
in ballad form a take!Www@QuestionHome@Com

I thought that sound like a Limballeadrick

Www@QuestionHome@Com

I like the original version:

Here is the ballad in one of it's original Scots-language versions!. Notes follow!.

The Queens Maries


Yestre'en* the Queen had fower Mary's
The nicht* she'll hae but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me!.


Oh little did my mother think
The day she cradled me
The lands I was to travel in
The death I was tae die*


Oh tie a napkin roon* my eyen*
No let me seen to die*
And sent me a'wa* tae my dear mother
Who's far away o'er the sea


But I wish I could lie in our ain kirkyard*
Beneath yon old oak tree
Where we pulled the rowans and strung the gowans!?*
My brothers and sisters and me


Yestre'en* the Queen had fower Maries
The nicht* she'll he but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me!.


But why should I fear a nameless grave
When I've hopes for eternity
And I'll pray that the faith o' a dying thief
Be given through grace tae me


Yestreen* the Queen had fower Maries
The nicht* she'll hae but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me!.


There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me!.





1 Yestre'en - yester evening (i!.e!., last night)
2 Nicht - night
3 (pronounced dee)
4 roon - around
5 eyene - eyes
6 a'wa - away
7 ain - own
8 kirkyard - Church yard (cemetery)
9 gowans - daisies
Www@QuestionHome@Com