Ballad Of Birmingham

The tone and diction of a poem can greatly affect the way the reader interprets the poem. They can make happy events feel sad and sad events feel happy. The way the author writes the poem is so critical. 11 Days Before Christmas by Cameo Smith and The Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall are two poems written about tragic events in American history. The tones of both of these poems greatly affect the events they are representing.

In 'Ballad of Birmingham,' Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. The mother, on the other hand, is very adamant that the child should not go because it is dangerous. It is obvious that the child is concerned about the events surrounding the march and wants to be part of the movement. The child expresses these feelings in a way

     The Ballad of Birmingham resembles a traditional ballad in that it tells a story in a song-like manner. The didactic tone seeks to teach us something; in this case it’s the theme of needless destruction. There are many devices the author uses to create such a tone and to tell such a story.

“Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall is a poem published in 1968 revealing a conversation between an African American mother and her daughter. The poem starts off with the young girl asking her mother for permission to participate in the Freedom March in downtown Birmingham; however, her mother refuses because reasonably so, parents do not want their child caught up in the middle of chaos, especially a dangerous one. During the 1960s, riots, influenced by violence such as bomb, hose, and dog attacks, were common. It is understandable that the mother did not want her daughter exposed to this violence. In fact, she wanted her daughter as far away from the terror as possible. The one place that many would resort to would be a sacred place, the church. Throughout history, the church have always been looked at as a place of holiness and can be referred to as a place of safety. Realistically enough, just because the church is deemed a holy and sacred place does not mean that it is exempt from evil terrors.

The tone in the poem “The Road Not Taken” I felt was feeling alone and a little sad. For example in the poem it states ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both” The author is describing having to make a decision and no matter what it has to be made and you can only take one route. This shows a sign of sadness because he can’t take both routs and he doesn’t know if the one he takes is the right one. A line in the poem says ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh’ like he knows this is a decision that

A very interesting movie On Golden Pond. Not only learning as you get older there are a lot of changes as well when exploring your adolescent’s years. Confusing, anxiety, anger, and a lot more feelings that occur throughout the journey to late adulthood. The movie was mainly on the characters Billy, Chelsea, Ethel, and Norman who were viewed dealing with biological, cognitive, sociological experiences while dealing with obstacles of family struggles.

I believe dudley randall chose “ ballad of birmingham” to show how dangerous it was back in the 1960s. Dudley randall wanted to show that there was no freedom march that day. That was one of many tragic days in birmingham. Dudley wanted to show that many african americans struggled, and they weren't treated equally, Dudley showed this by putting the color white on the little girl in the poem. The color white resembles innocence and that's what dudley wanted to show the reader. In the poem the little girl wants to go join the freedom march and she asks her mom, her mom didn't think it was a good idea because the mother knew it was dangerous out there, so the mother suggested she go to church instead. So the mother pt white gloves, white shoes,

The two novels I am interested in analyzing for my final paper are The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 and Tunes for Bears to Dance to. The first connection between the works was the way each author integrated bleak and sensitive history into a children’s novel without being too dismal for youths but still delivering the important morals of their stories. Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, gradually brought the readers into the middle of the civil rights movement in the deep south from the highly contrasted north, which is where the Watson family lives. Curtis progressively developed the southern culture and racial prejudice through the mother’s language, Kenny’s intelligence, and Byron’s actions which leads

Maya really values her freedom, and the one of all Blacks. That is why she fight for their equality. An example of this, is when she left Make because he wanted her to be a traditional" wife. Maya, who already had little money for her and her son, decided to put all her time and effort into the Cabaret of Freedom. What had started as an idea between friends became an important even because of her investment. She quit everything she had been doing to organize, pick the cast and the theater, and she even requested to take care of addressing the envelopes. During that time, she was not working, so her son was the only income source, and her friend lent her money for rent. She said : "This is important. It’s for Martin L. King, for the SCLC, for black

However, while it is a female’s physical desire and willingness to trade part of herself to fulfil that desire which causes Laura’s downfall—her own—it is another female’s loyalty and physical sacrifice that saves her—Lizzie’s (Hill 2005, p. 466). In an attempt to buy more of the goblins’ produce to satiate her sister’s magnified hunger, Laura is assaulted by the vile vendors: ‘They trod and hustled her, / Elbowed and jostled her, / Clawed with their nails, / Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking, / Tore her gown and soiled her stocking’ (Lines 399–403). This intensely evocative portion of the poem is often read as symbolising sexual assault (Hill 2005, p. 462) and is, at least, severe physical harassment. The force of these lines are strengthened by the isocolon of ‘trod and hustled her, / Elbowed and jostled her’ and by the asyndeton and onomatopoeia of ‘barking, mewing, hissing, mocking’, an unsettling list of aural imagery created by animalistic beings. Unlike Laura however, Lizzie does not give in to the goblins’ temptations and partake in the eating of their fruit. Instead, she stands ‘white and golden’ (Line 408) these colours representing purity and goodness. Rossetti also uses multiple similes to portray the girl’s body throughout the assault, such as ‘Like a rock of blue-veined stone / Lashed by tides obstreperously’ (Lines 410, 411), ‘Like a fruit-crown′d orange-tree / White with blossoms honey-sweet / Sore beset by wasp and bee’ (Lines 415–416), and ‘Like a royal

“It’s had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor – / Bare” (Hughes 3-7). Clearly, this woman’s life has been difficult. More than that, by using imagery of tacks, splinters, and torn up boards, the mother is telling her son that at times her life has been outright dangerous. It is no mistake that Hughes chooses to use images of objects that can easily do physical harm. Lines three through seven confirm that the mother’s life journey has been more than hard; indeed, it has been perilous. However, as the poem continues, mother tells son that she has always managed to advance in spite of the obstacles on her particular staircase. “But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on, / And reachin’ landin’s, / And turnin’ corners, / And sometimes goin’ in the dark / Where there ain’t been no light” (Hughes 8-13). During these lines, the tone of the poem slowly turns from hopeless to hopeful. True, the mother’s life has been dangerous a fraught with obstacles, and yet she has thus far overcome each one of her challenges. The phrases, “reachin’ landin’s” and “turnin’ corners” instill a sense of success in the mind of the reader, as both are common colloquial sayings that reflect a reprieve from hardship or a change for the better. Even through the darkness, still the mother climbs on. In other words, though she is at times unsure of her current position, she never loses sight of her

They had plenty of down points in their life. The poem goes into a dark hole where Darius Monroe (from the movie, Evolution of A Criminal) felt like a dark cloud was over him, when him and his family got robbed. The Poem Invictus have many dark points but at the end its inspiring and the movie is kind of the same but a little different.

To enhance his case, Owen adds a personal experience to the poem. He gives a horrible and vivid account of the death of one of the soldiers. Making the

Throughout the poem, many different forms of imagery were used such as tactile imagery, kinesthetic imagery, and visual imagery. Langston used tactile imagery to support his mother’s message about the hardships in life when he said, “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.” By using tactile imagery, Langston could use written expression of how his mother was feeling and to depict his mother’s message as well as capture the attention of the readers. The mother was telling her son that her life has not been a pretty picture. She tells her son that there were “tacks” and “splinters” in her way. Which she is telling her son that her journey through her life as she has moved forward has not been easy and she has had objects that got in her way. She has been places that were not all smooth or nice when she told her son “And places with on carpet on the floor Bare”. (Hughes Langston) 1994. The mother is explaining to her son through all of the trials and tribulations that she has faced in her life that you must keep climbing the stairs or keep moving forward in your life. The mother wanted her son to understand that he may experience some of the same things that she encountered in her life in his life also. “I’se been a-climbin’ on, and reachin’ landin’s, and turnin’ corners,” in which Langston wrote to describe the movement or progression that his mother spoke of. The road was not easy for Langston’s mother, but she was determined to get ahead in life regardless of what go in her way. The final form of imagery that Langston used in his poem Mother to Son was visual imagery. “And sometimes goin’ in the dark where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn

The poem could be confessional, but it could also be a narrative. It tells a story of leaves and flowers dying, and about children growing up, but the reason he wrote the poem is to tell the story of the world ending. The poem also talks about Robert's political views, in a way. He's saying that he does believe the world is going to end.