Resilience in the face of adversity is a valuable trait a person can have regardless of his or her situation. The use of different literary techniques in poetry can help the reader get a better gauge of this theme. Poems contain literary devices such as diction, tone, imagery, and the speaker’s situation. The poems “Ballad of Birmingham,” “The Whipping,” and “Woman Work” all share a common topic of violence, whether it be physical or psychological. Dudley Randall, Robert Hayden, and Maya Angelou explain this common theme through the use of literary devices. From the start, one can deduce that this poem takes place during the 1960’s marches and rallies led by Martin Luther King Jr. in the South. In the poem, a young girl is having a conversation with her mother about going outside. The author, Dudley Randall, makes the reader see that this young girl would prefer to join the freedom marches rather than play with her friends. However, her mother doesn’t allow this because of the safety concerns, even though the daughter tells her mom that there will be other kids …show more content…
One can see that the mother is exceptionally caring for her daughter when she states, “No, baby, no, you may not go/ For the dogs are fierce and wild,/And clubs and hoses, guns and jails/ Aren’t good for a little child.” Randall makes clear the negative and dangerous tone throughout this piece. “Fierce," "wild," "clubs," and "guns" are just a few words used to hint at the hardship of this time period. Although the poet uses imagery throughout the entire poem, the use of imagery in the last three stanzas emphasises the emotion and tone of the poem. When the unfortunate events occur, the use of imagery helps the reader sympathize with the mother. "Her eyes grew wet and wild...She clawed through bits of glass and brick/ Then lifted out a shoe.” This leads into the message and dramatic irony of this
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 use of dialogue within the first four stanzas, reveals their struggle that revolves around of cruel racist people, that only promote threats and violence, but also deeply affects their community and livelihood. “No baby, no, you may not go,” (5). A mother fearing the safety of her child, sends her to church instead of participating in a march. This exemplifies how the theme of a mother’s love calls for her trying to protect her daughter from the violence racism that surrounds them. Although, this poem contains dialogue between two people, the narrator remains
Since 1963, there are many movies, shows, books, and poems that are dedicated to this horrific event to commemorate the loss of the four girls and their families. During that time period, it is imperative that we know and understand where we came from and remember the people that dedicated their life to help us get our freedom. In the poem, a mom has to tell her daughter that she can’t participate in the march, but she has to go to church and same goes with the film. Families took their faith very seriously and not going to church was never an
Harwood revolves this poem around change, through the use of a motherly character she is able to construct a life style that has dramatically changed from free to a fairly constricted. Harwood uses the conversations of two people to get this message across, with the conversation discussing life’s progression with an old lover. “But for the grace of God…” suggests that the ex-lover is somewhat thankful for not ending up as a father figure to these children, as he can see the effect it has taken on her from when he used to know her. “Her clothes are out of date” shows her appearance has altered in the bid to live as a mother, her children are now her identity and that is what she will live to be. This poem is revolved around the negativity of losing yourself through mother-hood and the factors that slowly show that it.
In this stylistic analysis of the lost baby poem written by Lucille Clifton I will deal mainly with two aspects of stylistic: derivation and parallelism features present in the poem. However I will first give a general interpretation of the poem to link more easily the stylistic features with the meaning of the poem itself.
A girl thrown out of her apartment, lost her job, but she still strives for her dreams and lets nothing get in her way. She pushes through, gets back up, and fights back. No matter what she won’t let anything stop her from achieving her dreams. This idea can be seen in many pieces of texts including the following poems. “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley and “Still I rise” by Maya Angelou both convey the message that people can not let anything stop them from achieving their dream and to fight back.
The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.
She compares herself to a "black ocean, leaping and wide," an indication of the infinite power of her resilience. She closes the poem claiming that she is the "dream and the hope of the slave" followed by the thrice repeated phrase, "I rise." “Angelou captures the both the repression and the progress of the African American people over the course of history.” (Bouchard 1) I will use this essay in my final paper to analyze and determine the importance of simile in this poem and how it deeply affects the way in which the poem is meant to be
“But you may go to church instead” (Randall,15) a mother thought her child would be safer in such a sacred place rather than being a part of the march that just might have been safer. The poem “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall, has multiple themes, but the one that sticks out is violence, which is because it is so powerful and brings the whole poem together. There is also a lot of imagery shown through this whole poem that can put a horrible picture in your head because of how sad the poem really is.
“Still I Rise”, written by African-American writer Maya Angelou, includes a character who rises “Up from a past that’s rooted in pain.” No matter what words are said against her, lies are told about her, threats are made towards her, or words are written against her, she takes the past and uses it to fuel her confidence. The way she writes creates a deep sense of pride and feeling, while giving the poem life and helping the audience realise that they, too can rise. The diction, literary devices, and theme help the speaker portray her feelings about the topic of oppression in her experience.
There are many devices used in this poem to emphasize the emotions going through the mind of a parent when sending their child off into the world. Of such device used is imagery, the use of imagery is used abundantly in the
To begin with, the author’s implementation of short sentence fragments throughout the poem illustrates the exasperation and frustration bottled up in women in response to
‘Look We Have Come Through! The title of this section suggests a note of hope and faith in human resilience. How far is this reflected in the poems?’
In “The Story of an Hour” and the poem “Still I Rise” Kate Chopin and Maya Angelou have explored the theme of oppression in a variety of different ways. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story based around how dramatically things can change within the space of an hour and how this can affect your life in the short period of time. Within the hour Mr Mallard is presumed dead in a railroad disaster, resulting in Mrs Mallard short lived ‘freedom’ after years of being oppressed, before soon learning that her husband is not dead as she encounters him. This shock triggers an ongoing heart problem and Mrs Mallard is soon confirmed dead. “Still I Rise” is a poem based around Maya Angelou and how she will overcome challenges that are thrown at her.
In Virginia Woolf’s speech “Professions for Women”, it employs various techniques in order to get her argument across. Throughout the speech Virginia Woolf brings forward a problem that is still relevant today: gender inequality. Woolf’s combination brings of extended metaphors, irony, vivid imagery, anaphora and repetition emphasizes her philosophical ideal of supporting gender equality.