Why didn’t the Ballad Become a Horror?

Aim. Horror as an aesthetic phenomenon has maintained a high popularity rating for over a century. Viewers, readers, and listeners of different age groups prefer works with horror elements; there appear communities and other kinds of fan groups for whom the feeling of fear is the basis of intrigue (Horrorscope, Club of Horror Lovers, Association of Horror Authors, etc.). Horror has long been the subject of conferences and discussions, which indicates its relevance in scientific sphere. As a syncretic phenomenon, this modern aesthetic phenomenon has its own history, dating back to ancient literary sources, in which the recipient intentionally triggers a feeling of fear. In the ballad, fear is one of the significant elements of intrigue. The author of this article has attempted to find out why horror researchers do not attribute the ballad to the sources of this cultural and aesthetic phenomenon, despite a number of similar elements of poetics. Methodology. The key research method is the comparative historical one. By comparing the plot, ideological, and philosophical specifics of a number of literary Western European ballads and films recognized as the horror genre, the fundamental similarities and differences between the literary ballad and horror were identified. Based on the results obtained, a sketch of the classification of the artistic parameters of the ballad and horror is outlined. Results. The arguments are given that the ballad could not become a source for horror, despite a number of common features, due to the difference in the author’s position, figurative system, ideological content, ethical and philosophical orientation. Research implications. The article discloses similar and different features of the poetics of literary ballad and horror, which gives a more complete picture of the works of literature and cinema containing a horror element. The results obtained can be used both for scientific purposes and in the field of teaching.