20 - THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE

Disruption of Multinational Empires

The Austrian Empire

Austria in 1815: Empire of many Nationalities

1. Dominant Nationality. The German-speaking Austrians, constituting one-fifth of the population of the Empire, were the dominant nationality. They held the leading positions in government, Church, education and army. The Empire's ruling family, the Hapsburgs, was also Austrian.

2. Subject Nationalities. These included Hungarians, Italians, Rumanians and Slavic-speaking peoples: Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. As these subject peoples absorbed nationalist ideals - spread from france after 1789 - they aspired to independence.

Austria combats Nationalism

19 - THE BALLAD: Definition

Definition:

The ballad is a short, narrative poem. It is composed of a fixed stanza form. It has a simple plot and a simple metrical structure. A ballad is generally divided into quatrains and the quatrains are connected to each other with a repeated refrain. 

The ballad metre is very simple, each line has four primary beats. A quatrain usually has a standard (heroic) rhyme scheme (abab). The language and the syntax are simple. Alliteration is present, the repetition of the same - usually initial - sound in two or three words of the same line. The ballad also contains direct imagery (which is the pattern of images which evoke sensory responses in the mind). 

LORD RANDALL