Medieval ballad versus modern interpretation in Get Up and Bar the Door A literary form often used in medieval English literature was the folk ballad, an example of which is "Get Up and bar the door." A typical ballad is fun, its author is unknown, and it focuses on one topic. This topic and the events of the story are conveyed by both written and implied words. Implied thoughts are conveyed and emphasized using a variety of literary techniques such as symbolism, repetition, and rhyme. The anonymous author of "Get Up and Bar the Door" tells his story using these and other literary techniques. The basic conflict in this ballad is one, if not widely used, easily recognisable: man versus woman, or more specifically, husband versus wife, a battle of wills. The setting of this story is mid-November, in the home of a man and his wife, most likely from the bottom two-thirds of society, as the wife has to do the housework. The wind blows and comes through the door and the man, in typical masculine fashion, tells his wife to close the door. She replaced...