Below is a 30-category taxonomy with representative English folk songs. I’ve chosen titles that are widely collected in English oral tradition and that regularly appear in the Roud and Child canons.
| # | Category | Representative Songs |
| 1 | Courtship | The Seeds of Love, Bushes and Briars, The Sweet Nightingale |
| 2 | Faithful Lovers | The Loyal Lover, The Constant Farmer’s Son, True-Love Knots |
| 3 | Unfaithful Lovers | The Week Before Easter, Once I Had a Sweetheart, Cold Blows the Wind |
| 4 | Love Triangles | The Outlandish Knight, Fair Annie, The Cruel Brother |
| 5 | Secret Meetings | The Grey Cock, The Trees They Do Grow High, The Trooper and the Maid |
| 6 | Marriage | The Husbandman and the Serving Maid, The Brisk Young Widow |
| 7 | Unhappy Marriage | A Merry Battle of Northall, The Old Man and the Young Wife |
| 8 | Female Resistance | The Maid Freed from the Gallows, Broomfield Hill |
| 9 | Seduction and Pregnancy | The Maid and the Palmer, The Banks of Green Willow |
| 10 | Family Conflict | The Bonny Banks of Fordie, The Cruel Mother |
| 11 | Children and Inheritance | The Suffolk Miracle, Young Hunting |
| 12 | Disguise and Cross-Dressing | Jack Munro, The Female Drummer, Sweet Polly Oliver |
| 13 | Supernatural Lovers | The Unquiet Grave, The Wife of Usher’s Well |
| 14 | Fairy and Magical Tales | Tam Lin, Thomas the Rhymer |
| 15 | Murder Ballads | The Twa Sisters, The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter, Maria Marten |
| 16 | Crime and Justice | Van Diemen’s Land, The Gallant Poachers, James Macdonald |
| 17 | Outlaws and Highwaymen | The Newlyn Town, Brennan on the Moor, Bold Jack Donahue |
| 18 | Poaching and Smuggling | The Lincolnshire Poacher, The Blacksmith, The Game of Cards |
| 19 | Soldiers and Recruitment | The Rambling Soldier, The Recruited Collier, McCafferty |
| 20 | War and Battle | High Germany, The Battle of Otterburn, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye |
| 21 | Sailors and Seafaring | Admiral Benbow, The Mermaid, Spanish Ladies |
| 22 | Shipwreck and Disaster | The Golden Vanity, The Loss of the Ramillies, The Bold Princess Royal |
| 23 | Work and Occupations | Blacklegs Miner, The Weaver and the Factory Maid, The Jolly Ploughboy |
| 24 | Rural Life | John Barleycorn, The Farmer’s Boy, The Lark in the Morning |
| 25 | Travel and Exile | The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea, The Leaving of Liverpool |
| 26 | Beggars and Wanderers | The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, The Gaberlunzie Man |
| 27 | Historical Events | The Death of Queen Jane, Flodden Field, The White Cockade |
| 28 | Politics and Protest | The Cutty Wren, The World Turned Upside Down, The Diggers‘ Song |
| 29 | Drinking and Merrymaking | The Barley Mow, Here’s a Health Unto His Majesty, The Jolly Beggar |
| 30 | Death and Lament | Lord Lovel, The Flowers of the Forest, Barbara Allen |