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Before I began writing poetry, whenever I heard the word 'ballad', I would associate it with music. As my knowledge grew, I found that there are also poems that are considered ballads. A ballad is a type of narrative verse that's either musical or poetic. Many of them tell stories, but you aren't obligated to do so.
Ballads are usually in quatrains (four line groupings) In each grouping, either the first and third line rhyme or the second and fourth lines rhyme. Some ballads even have a refrain (a line that repeats throughout the song or poem.)
There's so many different types of ballads. That means it would be nearly impossible to come up with one definition that will fit every variation. The simplest way to think of a ballad is as a song or poem that tells a story and has an an ABCB rhyme scheme. Since ballads are a type of formal verse, they tend to have a strict meter and defined rhyme scheme.
Some examples of ballads written as poetry are "As You Came From The Holy Land" by Sir Walter Raleigh, "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, "A Ghost in the Night" by Nan Nichols and "Summoned by the King" by William Kite. Though that wasn't the intention for those authors, ballads written as poetry can be put to music as well. Some examples of ballads that were written as songs are "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton, "Faithfully" by Journey and "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" by NSync.