Figurative Language In Dudley Randall's Ballad Of Birmingham

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

This poem has numerous allusions to the civil rights movements. Such as “No No No I’m not going to move” (7) this quote alludes to when Rosa Parks would not give her seat to a white man. “…Montgomery... Birmingham…Selma…” (9) alludes to the freedom marches during the civil rights movement. “Four little girls” (9) this quote alludes to the 4 little girls killed sparking the civil rights movement. This

I think that the moral of this poem is that life is precious, and that life should never be taken for granted. I think this is because the whole poem is comparisons between life and death, and because she says that the people who have passed away would do anything possible to come back to life, even under the worst conditions, to be loved, to love, and to be with the people they

The poem was more focused on 6 innocent young girl’s , but one was talked about and pointed out more . the little girl wanted to be in the freedom of march but her mom refused to let her go because she didn't want her to get hurt in any way . the little girl’s mom made a better decision and went ahead and sent the little girl to church with a more better feeling of her coming back home then walking in the march .

Dudley Randall wrote the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” in 1969 in remembrance of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the four girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who died. Robert Chambliss, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was the person responsible for the placing the bomb under the stairway of the church. The bombing took place on September 15, 1963, one year prior to the passing of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination against race, color, religion, sex or origin. On September 4, 1963 Birmingham, AL obeyed the federal court and began to desegregate some of the local school (Brimner 29). The National States Rights Party and the Ku Klux Klan were upset about the desegregation movement that they took it upon themselves to hurt who they hated the most by bombing the church (Caldwell 1). In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham,” Dudley Randall

The first four stanzas are questions and answers in the form of dialogue; the daughter asking to be in the freedom march and the mother telling her it is too dangerous. The mother tells her that the dogs will be fierce, the guns will fire, and there will be clubs and hoses. In these stanzas the author uses repetition and word choice to create the tone of a wary mother telling her daughter ‘no’ and the daughter’s youthful innocence. When the daughter says: “Mother dear” (line 1) it conveys a young child trying to inveigle her mother into letting her be in the march. The repetition of “No, baby, no, you may not go,” (lines 5 and 13), has the tone of a vigilant mother talking to her young child. Randall also uses an understatement to support the issue of racism and the question of freedom. After the mother says there will fierce dogs, clubs, guns, hoses, and jails, she says that those things: “Aren’t good for a little child.” (line 8) This is a tremendous understatement. No one, of any age, should be treated in such a hideous way, especially ‘free’ people at a freedom march. The author ends this section with foreshadowing and dramatic irony. The mother says: “No, baby, no, you may not go, / For I fear the guns will fire. / But you may go to the church instead / And sing in the children’s choir.” (lines 12 - 15). This is dramatic irony and foreshadowing

The Reason i think Dudley Randall wrote “Ballad of Birmingham’” and the order he wrote it was to show you how things were back then and how violent people got when other stand up for their people or community.

“Ballad of Birmingham” is a strong and powerful poem that will break the hearts of the American people. Written by Dudley Randall, the poem tells the horrific story of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing during a time when inequality was extensive in the United States. The poem serves as an indictment against the social values of the sixties and seventies by showing to us that the peoples’ hopes of a great nation were mistaken, exhibiting to us the true nature of the sixties and seventies, and revealing to us the repercussions of the events that took place.

The story set place during the Civil Right movement in a black household of a little girl and her mother. The poem signal that African Americans are not gifted with their freedom when the girl asked her mother to join the Freedom March “to make our country free” (Randall). Getting their freedom taken away, many African American children march the street of Birmingham to regain their natural rights. Taking a stand to fight for one’s right is the responsibilities of everyone. Another example is the mother’s reason for refusing to let her daughter go march because of her fear of the danger behold there. The mother then direct her daughter to “go to church instead” (Randall). Ironically, the girl meet her fate at the place thought to be the most sacred place. This ironic situation revealed that ignoring the violation of the rules upon civil rights is as dangerous as challenging it.

Firstly, imagery is an important device in the poem. It uses words to elicit various sensory experiences. From beginning to end, Randall uses “multiple images that are primarily visual and associated with the dialogue, the girl’s presentation for the church, and the explosion” (ENotes). Throughout the poem, it evokes images like of civil rights protesters marching throughout the streets, and guns and dogs which are to used to control the colored people. This makes the reader think about what happens to protesters who fight for what they believe in. Furthermore, at the end, there are images of a sad mother who lost her child. This poem uses imagery to create the illusion and sorrow to make the reader feel for what happened. Indeed, this poem also uses irony within the poem. The mother who wanted to keep her daughter safe, ironically sends

Ballad of Birmingham written by Dudley Randall, wants to show the sadness and what it was like the day the mother found out her daughter had left the world. He wrote this sad poem to show what it might have been like to be in the mother’s shoes, to show readers what a horrific event happened that not a lot of people have never heard about before. Through the use of irony Randall shows that even sad events can have some irony in any situation.

I think that Dudley Randall wrote this poem about this event because he cares about what happened and he wants other people to learn more about it.

He wrote this in poem form because he wanted people to understand what these little girls went through. The way he explains what happened and how it happened. For example when the mom says “no baby no you may not go” she says this because she fears what would happen to her kid if she walks downtown in Birmingham.

“Ballad of Birmingham” written in 1969 by Dudley Randall. The poem is based off the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. When I first read this poem, tears were brought to my eyes. A story of a young child and a mother’s conversation. The child wants to march with the others in town for the Freedom March.

There are many interesting things in such a fantastic short poem. The irony he used created sorrow for the readers about the child attending church instead of marching the streets of Birmingham