The Scottish Ballads and The Origin Of Early Popular Australian Poetry

Abstract

The key word in this rather loose title is the word ballad, so perhaps we should reflect for a minute or two on its meaning.¹ In contemporary parlance, it usually refers to the words of a probably rather sentimental popular song but its derivation is interesting. It stems from a word in Old French—the word balade—which meant to dance, and the original meaning of the modern word ballad was a song, but a specific kind of song, one that during medieval times was sung to accompany a dance.