ABSTRACT
Ballad language, like ballad structure, possesses certain formal qualities which render it quite distinctive and which reflect the oral genesis of the ballad. The most striking trait of ballad language is the frequent recurrence of certain phrases, lines, stanzas, and even clusters of stanzas that lend to the ballad a highly stylized air. They are lines such as these: She’s lookit oer her left shoulder ‘But an my father get word of this’ O she has birled these merry young men Wi strong beer and wi wine Whan bells were rung, an mass was sung, An a’ man boun to bed ‘O saddle me the black, the black, Or saddle me the brown; O saddle me the swiftest steed That ever rade frae a town.’ O whan he came to broken briggs, He bent his bow and swam, An whan he came to the green grass growin, He slackd his shoone and ran.
