Answer: Charles Dickens's "The Song of the Wreck" might be considered a ballad because it is a narrative poem spoken in the third-person, and it features ballad stanzas of four lines—rhymed <em>abab—</em> as well as dialogues, a simple language, and a tragic story.
Explanation: Just to elaborate a little further on the answer, it can also be added that the poem, or "song," relates the tragic story of a shipwreck. A seaman rescued a child who had been onboard, and he took care of him until he died, not before asking a "trusty friend" to continue looking after him. The friend took care of him, but the "helpless child" eventually died too. Note that the second and fourth lines of every stanza rhyme (<em>raved</em>, <em>saved</em>, <em>thrown</em>, <em>alone</em>, and so on) and that throughout the poem there are several dialogues, which make it more vivid and engaging.
