English Literature: Comparative Study of Araby and the Ballad

This essay provides a comparative analysis of James Joyce's 'Araby' and the ballad, focusing on their differing narrative styles and thematic explorations of unfulfilled love and disillusionment. The essay highlights the contrasting approaches to storytelling, with 'Araby' presented through a first-person narrative of a young boy's unrequited affection, and the ballad employing a more traditional poetic form to depict a romantic encounter. It examines the use of language, imagery, and structure to convey the emotional experiences of the characters, emphasizing the impact of societal and personal expectations on their desires. The essay also discusses the critical interpretations of the works, including the role of deception and the complexities of the characters' motivations. The comparative study reveals how both literary forms explore the themes of loss, longing, and the search for meaning, though through distinct literary devices and perspectives.

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English Literature

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Comparison between the Araby and the ballad
The poem has a pure concoction connection in pleasure and pain. The ballad's learning
system is prominent for its attracting storytelling and its bouncy rhythm. This poetic story
satisfies all the book's attributes of the companion. It is a swift placed ballad that describes the
romantic narrative of a beautiful lady and a gentleman. On the other hand, James Joyce prose
manner, Araby is alternatively regarding a young boy's ungratified love for a girl. This
comparison connecting the love narration can be formed as both are unfulfilled. But both the
narrations are distinctive in their sound and design. Keats's approach to the ballad has a more
sensuous and powerful appeal to the bibliomaniac. Contrarily, the ungratified love of the young
boy in Araby is more honest and virtuous. The ballad is a description of the love bond that arises
from moderate and has got an extensive bounce on the minds of the lovers. On the contra, the
essay portrays the visionary world of a virtuous young boy and how the forces of the society
destroyed his imaginary world.
As far as the narration is concerned, alterations are surrounding these two literary pieces.
The tale of Araby's confessed by the young innocent boy himself in the first-person narrative
through his insightful narrative, the suffering of the narrator can be felt. Diversely, the ballad of
La Belle Dame Sans Merci has the stranger as the narrator. The tale is narrated by the stranger
who came across the companion. The companion is touched deeply by the fierceness of his lady's
love who led him in this position. Therefore, along with the literature type, there is a great
divergence in the style of the narration. The young boys' first-person narration in the Arabic
essay makes the wound more understandable. At the end of the story, the boys dream about the
lady's love and the confrontation with her is broken. Joyce's narration style is more picaresque
and straight forward but this does not change the harshness of the wound or pain. Besides, there

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are also some complicated elements in the story like the respective fragments of the ballad
having evidence that the lady is inexplicable. One cannot claim that she had some gloomy energy
to dominate the companion and leaves after fulfilling her wishes. Critics look at it as a revenge
book or novel. The woman may have been a survivor during the past and how she came back to
revenge. This means therefore that La Belle Dame Sans Merci is more subtle and dramatic in its
approach. These two essays have some parallels with each other. Therefore, being the creations
of the two contrasting genres, they are both linked to the ungratified desires where the ballad is a
myth of deception. Also, the ballad narrative pace is rapid but the myth described by the essay is
a mixture of both unhappiness and joy. The essay's first encounter with the lady's love can be
compared to the Arabic boy's joy when he first spoke of his love interest.

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Work cited
Hartley, Daniel. "Style in Prose Fiction: A Preliminary Definition." The Politics of Style. Brill,
2017. 75-96.
Hartley, Daniel. "Style in Prose Fiction: A Preliminary Definition." The Politics of Style. Brill,
2017. 75-96.
McGill, Meredith L. "What is a Ballad? Reading for genre, format, and medium." NINETEEN
CENT LIT 71.2 (2016): 156-175.