"Harminc nemes Budára tart..." : vázlat reformkori balladairodalmunkról

Although in the oral tradition the ballad is a very old genre, in written literature it is not older than the 18th century. Being a mixed form it could not be accepted by classical poetics based on the Greek and Roman authorities which demanded a clear distinction in theme, style and form between the genres. The late 18th century movements in aesthetics aiming an aesthetical pluralism greeted and adored folk poetry and the ballad as a part of it as the representation of a non-dassical but ancient and national form of poetry, and so did later the Romantic movement as well. It happened the same way in Hungary. The study gives an outline about the first period of Hungarian ballad-writing, examining the first theoretical thoughts concerning this problem, the relation of the ballad to the epic poem of the age, the vision of history conveyed by the ballads. The second half of the study goes into a more detailed analysis of a historical ballad by J. Garay written in 1838, which was one of the most popular pieces of the genre in the 19th century