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Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Brought to you by : Hafizah Binti Azhar Umi Kartini Binti Azizul Rahim
5,
2000
Marriage :
Ruby Hudson in 1935 Mided Pinckney in 1942 Vivian Spencer in 1957
Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan. 1938 to 1943 - Clerk at a Post Office in Detroit. Served in military during World War II. 1949 - He was working at a post office while he was attending Wayne State University in Detroit. In Bachelor of Arts degree in English. 1951 - He completed his Masters degree in Library Science at the University of Michigan. Librarian at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, then at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland. 1956 - he returned to Detroit worked at the Wayne County Federated Library System as head of the reference-inter loan department.
age of thirteen, his very first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press.
He wrote one of his famous poems, Ballad of Birmingham, in
response to the 1963 bombing of a Baptist church in which four girls were killed.
1965. - Randall established the Broadside Press in
1966 - The first collection by the press was Poem Counterpoem . 1968 - He then published Cities Burning in response to a riot in
Detroit.
1970 - Love You , 1971 - More to Remember 1973 - After the Killing in.
The Profile on the Pillow Rabaul On Getting A Natural (For Gewndolyn Brooks) Luzon Langston Blues Green Apples Booker T. and W.E.B. Ballad Of Birmingham A Poet Is Not a Jukebox
Summary
Dudley Randalls Ballad of Birmingham depicts an African-American mother and her daughter conversing about a Freedom March in the streets of Birmingham. The young child asks permission to participate in the march, but her mother objects and describes the dangers that exist for the freedom marchers. Instead, she is sent to church, which is consider to be a place of safety. Soon, after the daughter leaves for church, an explosion is heard. The mother unfortunately discovers that her daughters life has been taken from her in one violent act of racism. Consequently, the mother must accept reality and cope with the loss of her child.
Analysis
Stanza Stanza 1 Meaning The daughter asks her mothers permission to join the march at the streets of Birmingham
Stanza 2
The mother worried of the fierce and wild dogs (police dogs) and police will harm her daughter
The daughter eager to join the march as she said she wont be alone . The mother still not allows her daughter to go. She is worried that there will be people shooting She tell her daughter she may go to the church and join the childrens choir but not the march
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
Stanza Stanza 5
Meaning The daughter get ready to go to the church The mother is relieves to know that her daughter will be in a safe place. The daughter smiles at her without realizing that it is the last from her
Stanza 6
Stanza 7
When she heard the explosion, her eyes get wet and wild looking for her child She push away the glasses and bricks. Then, she found a shoe that her daughter wore. However, she couldnt find her.
Stanza 8
Characteristics
Protective: wants to protect child from potential violence + sends her to safest place she knows, her church High instinct: knows freedom march will probably end in violence marchers being attacked fierce dogs, guns, clubs & hoses + then put in jail. Naive: thinks church safe place beyond reach of racial hatred.
Character
Characteristics
Daughter
Revere (to feel great respect towards something or somebody): puts on best clothes to show respect for church as place of worship
Obedient: does what mother tells her + goes to church Matured : She is eager to join to fight for freedom
Theme
Racism No place is safe from racial hatred
if a society does not provide equal protection and punishment under the law. that parents can not always protect their children, no matter how hard they try.
1963 Bombing
Tone
A sad poem The poem shows how a mother wants to
protect her child from the dangers of protesting by sending her child to church. The mother believed that the church was too sacred of a place for bad things to happen like a church bombing. But when she heard the explosion sound of a bomb going off, she knew that her belief about the church being safe from danger was wrong.
No, baby, no, you may not go, (A) For I fear those guns will fire. (B) But you may go to church instead (C) And sing in the childrens choir. (B)
Literary Devices
Imagery Imagery that cause a feeling of panic Examples: i. stanza 7 (line 25) - explosion ii. stanza 7 ( line 27) - raced
Examples: i. stanza 2 (line 6) - fierce and wild ii. stanza 2 ( line 7) - clubs and hoses
Images of a pure and innocent
Virtual imagery
Example: i. stanza 5 (line 19) - And drawn white gloves on her small brow hands
Olfactory imagery
Irony
Examples: i. The fact that the mother fears for her childs safety and sends her to what she believes is a safe place is ultimately where her daughter meets her demise. In stanza 4:
No baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the childrens choir.
ii. The fact that her mother dresses her in her fancy church clothes, white gloves included, which is ultimately the dress in which one might be buried.
In stanza 5:
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, And bathed rose petal sweet, And drawn white gloves on the her small brow hands, And white shoes on her feet.
Alliteration
Examples: i. stanza 4 (line 14) - For I fear those guns will fire ( repetition of consonants f )
ii. stanza 7 (line 26)
Assonance - used in the repeated line Examples: i. In stanza 2(line 5) and stanza 4 (line 13)
No, baby, no, you may not go, (repeat in line 5 and 13 with o sound)
ii. In stanza 6 (line 21)
Metaphor
Examples: i. stanza 5 describe the mother preparing her child to go to church. The childs hair color is described as night-dark in direct contrast with her white
sweet.