Ballad of Birmingham

Adorna, MisaelCasas, VanessaGarcia, Jezreel

Truong, NatalieEnglish 10

Period 3

By Dudley Randall

Poet Name: Dudley Randall DOB: January 14, 1914

Died: August 5, 2000 at age 86 POB: Washington D.C. Born to: Arthur George Clyde and Ada Viola

(eventually divorced) Married twice.

Once in 1942 and again in 1957 Inspiration for “The Ballad of Birmingham”

was to respond to the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama

Structure 8 Stanzas in total 4 lines per stanza

Quatrain 32 lines in total Structure is straight forward Easy to comprehend Follows a ballad structure Ironic with its plot twist ending

Meter Types of meters used in the poem:

Poem consist of iambic tetrameter and trimeter

Alternating between tetrameter and trimeter

112 meters in total

Poem and Rhyme Type of Poem:

Ballad Narrative verse, which tells a story

Rhyme Scheme second and fourth line of each stanza rhyme first and third do not

BUT WAIT! Not every other line rhymes EX: A - downtownB - playC - BirminghamB - today

D - goE - wildF - jailsE - child

G - aloneH - meI - BirminghamH - free

Theme Racism

The poem takes place in the early 1960s During that time there was the civil rights

movement to end segregation According to records, it was a member of the

KKK who planted the bomb in a “negro” church Irony

The child was sent to the church The mother believe the church would be safer

since the church is scared In the end the child went missing because she

was sent to the church

Tone Poem goes through three stages of tone

Seriousness: Stanzas 1 through 4 The mother is worrying for the safety of the child in the

streets of Birmingham Relief:

Stanzas 5-6 Ex. Line 21 and 22

“ The mother smiled to know her child,Was in a scared place,”

The mother is moved from a state of worry to a state of security to know that her child is safe in the walls of a church.

Tragedy: Stanzas 7 through 8 The mother lost her child soon after she heard the explosion

and the only remains she could find was the child’s shoe.

Diction Denotative:

Author used words to put a negative tone on the streets of Birmingham Ex. “fierce”, “wild”, “clubs”, “guns”

Connotative: “Sweet” and “white”

Emphasize child’s innocence “Sacred” and “children”

Emphasize “safety” of the church Imagery

Ex. Stanza 5 The author describe what the little girl’s appearance to the church.

(“White gloves,” “white shoes,” “combed and brushed her night-dark hair”)

Ex. Stanza 7-8 The reader is to imagine a frantic mother running through the

streets of Birmingham “Her eyes grew wet and wild.

She raced through the streets of Birmingham” The author then begins to describe the rubble as bits of glass and

bricks.

Figure of Speech Metaphor:

Ex. Stanza 5 “She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

And bathed in rose petal sweet,

And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,

And white shoes on her feet.“

Meaning the girl is pure and innocent. Repetition/Refrains: Ex. Line 5 and 13

“No, baby, no, you may not go,” Ex. Line 3 and 11

“And march the streets of Birmingham”

The EndNow clap