The Ballad Of Birmingham Poem

The topic that chosen was to compare the way a short story treats death with the way a poem reveals death. The short story chosen was “The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin and the poem chosen was “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall. They each have their own way of expressing the nature of death.

In this poem there is a lot of figurative language. One of the biggest types of figurative language used in this poem is irony. The irony in this poem is how the mother wouldn't let her child go to march because she feared her child would get hurt. Instead she sent her child to church because she believed it was a safe and sacred place but ironically the church ended up being bombed. Another piece of figurative language that is very effective in this poem is imagery. The way the poem is written helps me create images in my head for example, "She raced through the streets of Birmingham." I can imagine her running around desperately, looking for her child. The metaphors and hyperboles in this poem also help with the imagery, for example, "...night dark hair," and "…rose-petal sweet." These metaphors make me think of the girls smoothly combed black hair and her fresh and beautiful rosy smell. A hyperbole that had a huge effect on the tone was, "But that smile was the last smile to ever come upon her face." This hyperbole really helps me understand the effect of a tragic moment like this and how it can completely ruin

The tone of this poem is very important. Throughout as I was reading this poem I sensed heartfelt and great concern for the new mother. Also, in this poem one may notice the role of

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 author, Randall Dudley, was born on January 14, 1914. He was born in Washington D.C. but moved to Detroit in 1920. Randall was an African American poet, publisher, editor, and founder of Broadside Press. Broadside

However he spent much of his life in Detroit, going to Wayne State University and earning a major in English as well as becoming a member of the Miles Poetry Workshop where he became acquainted with accomplished poets such as Philip Levine and Henrietta Epstein. After graduating, he was employed as a reference librarian at the University of Detroit and was the university’s poet-in-residence until his retirement in 1976. “Ballad of Birmingham” was not Randall’s first civil-rights related poem as his writings were frequently published in progressive magazines such as Negro Digest. However, “Ballad of Birmingham” was the first poem that garnered national attention and became the poem that Randall is best known for. “WHEN the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, Randall was asked by the editor of Correspondence Magazine to compose a poem for publication.” Black Scholar, Vol. 31, Issue 1. Although the poem was not officially published until 1966 as a part of a Broadside Press publication. In addition to being published alongside celebrated black poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Naomi Long Madgett, and LeRoi Jones. “Ballad of Birmingham” was also set to music in a folk song in 1965 sung by Jerry Moore. The poem’s simple style, vivid wording and tragic history has made “Ballad of Birmingham” a mainstay in black and civil right literature. There are many reasons that Randall was

“The Ballad of Birmingham” along with the Review of “4 Little girls” are personal and touching. Randall and Ebert use a language that speak to the heart and move the reader, Ebert even goes into discussing how those four children could have done something great and monumental however, since they were killed at such a young age we will never know what would have become of them (Ebert paragraphs 3 and four). He even uses description to make the girls seem innocuous and pure causing the act to look even more jarring and barbarous. Further more, both discuss the disheartening un-saftey of the town. Dudley Randal portrays this in the repeated refrain where the mother says “No, baby, no, you many not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and horses, guns and jails Aren’t good for a little child,”(Randall verse 2).Throughout the poem he is able to clearly emphasize the mother’s worry for her child. Roger Ebert discusses the major problem of racism at the time and how the bombing was “the catalyst for the civil right movement, the moment when all of America could look away no longer from the face of racism,”(Ebert paragraph 1). On the other hand, neither of the articles mention where Birmingham is or about how the bombing of the church was a recherché example of how people with a skin color other than white were treated at the

Just then the mother heard an explosion, and her eyes grew mad and welled up with tears. She ran through the streets of Birmingham, calling her child’s name out.

For centuries, racism has plagued America. People of black ethnicity have been specifically targeted at the most. The bombing of Birmingham, Alabama was an especially tragic example of said attacks. Countless innocent black men, women, and children were shot and killed in the events following the bombing.

Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham” is a poetic retelling of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. In the poem, a mother and her daughter have a discussion about the daughter attending a freedom march. The mother sends her daughter to church instead, where the girl meets her fate. “Ballad of Birmingham” gives an insight into the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and the event that would transform the movement-- the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

     First of all, the most visible element of importance is the irony. A kid dying in a church where his mom told him to go to be safe is very ironic and it completely portrays the current situation of racial violence in the southern states. No one would want to be stuck in the mother’s situation and your heart pains for her struggle.

The article,”When School Was Scary” shows a mood of sympathetic by showing how the Little Rock Nine were bullied every day for the color of their skin. The poem,” The Ballad of Birmingham” shows a mood of sympathetic by using a little girl’s death as the center of what happened. It doesn’t say she died but the reader infers that the girl is dead based on the evidence shown. In the text,”When School Was Scary” it says,” White students were mean to the Little Rock Nine every day. They threw ink, books, and rocks at them.

In order to occupy her child, the mother dresses her daughter up to go sing in the children’s choir at church in the fifth stanza. She brushes her hair, bathes her, and puts on her gloves and shoes. Randall appeals to the senses in this stanza; he uses a metaphor here to inform the reader a visual that the family is African American. She has “night-dark” hair and small brown hands. She is dressed in white and smells of sweet rose petals. The mother takes the girls mind off of the Freedom March and fixes it on the children’s choir. The tone is one of content. The sixth stanza is a

To start off the analysis, the setting of the entire poem is significant. Though the poem takes place in a house, the atmosphere the house is set in is also important. The month is September which is a month of fall which can be seen as a symbol for decline. It definitely insinuates that the poem is leading towards death. Line 1 has “September rain falls on the house” which gives the feeling of a dark and cold night with a storm on top of that. To further develop that, Bishop gives us the failing light in line 2 to also give us an idea of the grandmother’s struggle. Bishop uses the cyclical theme of changing seasons to show the unending nature of what is transpiring within the

Ballad of Birmingham, written by the poet Dudley Randall relives a tragic moment in time in which four little girls died when a church was purposefully exploded. This poem is based on the incident that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. This poem vividly shows the perspective of a mother losing her child. Most of the poem includes a mother daughter discussion regarding the participation of the freedom march. The mother explains to her daughter that it is far too dangerous for her to be participate, therefore she sends her daughter to church, where she believes that she would be safe. The mother later hears of the explosion and runs over to find out that her daughter had been killed by noticing her daughter’s shoe on the ground. In Ballad of Birmingham, Dudley Randall uses voice, imagery, and sound to show how the tragic event revolves around a theme of racism/mother’s love, which most readers can empathize to.