The Only Use of
ballad
in
Araby, by James Joyce
- We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of labourers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land.†
Definition:
a song (or poem) that tells a story or expresses strong feelings -- typically slow in tempo