The form of the ballads
The ballads have the same structure throughout Scandinavia. The form is easily recognised: couplets or quatrains, normally with four stressed syllables in each line:
Och liten Karin tjänte på unga kungens gård
or
Herr Peder han gångar sig i kammaren in
There is usually a refrain (or burden) between verses, such as ”blåser kallt, kallt väder ifrån sjön” – a refrain found in a number of different ballads.
Sometimes there is a also a refrain in the middle of a verse:
Och Jungfrun hon skulle sig till Ottesången gå
– Tiden görs mig lång
Så gick hon den vägen, där höga berget låg
– Men jag vet att sorgen är tung.
The refrain may be connected with the ballad’s plot or emotional contents. A couple of examples of this are ”I vänten mig sent eller aldrig” [Wait for me late or never] in the ballad about Sven i rosengård (cf Edward, Child 13) – who, having murdered his brother, was forced to flee the country and never return – or ”Men jag vet att sorgen är tung” [Yet I know that sorrow lies heavy] in the example above from ”Den bergtagna” [The maiden and the mountain king], which suggests a woeful ending. Some refrains have, however, no connection to the plot; they may be seen as a kind of lyrical complement, for example: ”Om sommaren, när alla små fåglar de sjunga väl” [In summertime, when all the small birds do sweetly sing]
Sometimes lines of verses are repeated, without refrains:
Och liten Karin tjänte på unga kungens gård
Och liten Karin tjänte på unga kungens gård
Hon lyste som en stjärna ibland de tärnor små
Hon lyste som en stjärna ibland de tärnor små.[Young Karin was a serving-lass all in the young king’s hall ://:
She shone just like some bright star among the maidens small ://:]
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