By analyzing and comparing
traditional and modern
ballads, some characteristics of traditional ballads imitated by modern
ballad writers can be found. The examples of the former are "Sir Patrick Spens" and "Lord Rendal," and those of the latter are "The Murder of Maria Marten" and "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall. The discussion of the similarities between these four
ballads in this paper focuses on the structure of a ballad stanza, the use of repetition and the manner of story-telling.