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Woman Work Literary Devices

Good Essays

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

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