critical essay on ballad of birmingham

Typical of a ballad, Randall’s poem presents a brief narrative that includes a dramatic event—the bombing of the church and the loss of lives. Imagery is an important device in “Ballad of Birmingham.” Imagery is the use of a word or a group of words to elicit various sensory experiences. From the first to the last stanzas, readers of “Ballad of Birmingham” encounter multiple images that are primarily visual and associated with the dialogue, the girl’s preparation for church, and the explosion. Randall invites readers to visualize and hear a mother-daughter conversation in stanzas 1 through 4. Their dialogue evokes visual images of the many civil rights demonstrators marching through the streets of Birmingham and elsewhere. In stanza 2 are the dogs, clubs, firehoses, guns, and jails used to control the primarily black protesters; in stanza 3 are children marching the Birmingham streets; in stanza 4 are “guns [that] will fire.” The mother sends the child to church “to sing in the children’s choir,” and auditory images of young voices singing are called forth. The next group of images is centered on the little girl’s preparations for church in stanza 5; readers see her combing and brushing “her nightdark hair,” bathing “rose petal sweet” (which also evokes a fragrant image), and putting “white gloves on her small brown hands” and “white shoes on her feet.” The last group of images focuses on the explosion in stanza 7. Readers visualize and hear the explosion, see the mother’s wet, wild eyes, see her frantically racing through the streets of Birmingham, and hear her calling for her daughter in vain. Then, in stanza 8, readers visualize the mother clawing through “bits of glass and brick” and ultimately lifting her daughter’s shoe from the bombing debris. A second major device is irony. The central irony in the poem involves the fact that the mother, in trying to keep her.
Skip to main content. Search for. Synonym Antonyms Definitions The Classroom » Higher Education Prep » What Is the Theme of the Poem Ballad of Birmingham ? by Melissa McDonald, Demand Media The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 is still remembered today. Related Articles What Is the Theme of the Poem Silver ? What Is the Message or Theme of the Poem Rain by Ebenezer Jones? What Kind of Irony Is in 'Ballad of Birmingham'? What Is the Rising Action in 'The Ballad of Birmingham'? Theme in a poem is the central idea or message. Dudley Randall’s poem “Ballad of Birmingham” is a tribute to a real-life church bombing in 1963, which killed four young girls. The main theme is that nothing -- not even a mother’s love or the sacred walls of a church -- can protect an innocent child from racial violence. Irony and Theme Irony is important to the theme. The poem begins as an unnamed girl begs her mother to allow her to attend the Freedom March: “Mother dear, may I go downtown/Instead of out to play,/And march the streets of Birmingham/In a Freedom March today?” The mother refuses, instead urging the girl to go to the church because she believes it is safe, while the march could become dangerous. The irony is that the girl goes to the safe church but is still a victim of violence. Symbolism and Theme Symbolism is also central to the theme. For example, the girl’s innocence is symbolized by her white gloves and white shoes. The mother finds one of the shoes sitting in the rubble after the explosion, and it is now a symbol of her child’s innocence taken away by a horrific event. Thus, the poem further emphasizes the mother’s inability to protect her child. Style Your World With Color Stay Fashionably on Trend This Season Explore a range of beautiful hues with the year’s must-have colors. View Article Can You Rock It Like Rihanna? Let your clothes.
Dan Gutstein on DUDLEY RANDALL (January 14, 1914 - August 5, 2000) Dudley Randall led a life full of intellectual exploration, service, and literary entrepreneurship. He started writing poetry at an early age, and filled notebooks throughout his years, drawing on the civil rights movement, work experiences, travels, and personal experiences for inspiration. In addition to serving his country in the Pacific theatre during World War II, Randall worked for Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Postal Service, and several libraries. In the 1960s, he built one of the most important presses in American history, and went on to publish scores of African American authors, as well as several books of his own poetry, including some truly classic pieces. In Ballad of Birmingham, Randall conjures one of the most vivid and vicious chapters from the civil rights movement: the bombing of a church in 1963 that wounded 21 and cost four girls their lives. The poem begins with a dialogue between mother and daughter during which, ironically, the mother forbids the daughter to march for freedom, fearing that street violence will erupt. Instead, she gives permission for the daughter to sing in the children's choir at their church. How could the mother know, of course, that the streets, that day, might have offered some relative safety? The tragedy, a central feature of many ballads, becomes especially clear and poignant at the end, when the mother searches for her missing daughter. The poem can speak for itself: BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM Mother dear, may I go downtown instead of out to play, and march the streets of Birmingham in a Freedom March today? No, baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs are fierce and wild, and clubs and hoses, guns and jails ain't good for a little child. But, mother, I won't be alone. Other children will go with me, and march the streets of Birmingham to make our country free.
Skip to main content. by Susan Sherwood Dudley Randall’s poem Ballad of Birmingham centers on the real-life 1963 bombing of an African-American church. It begins with a mother-daughter discussion of a freedom march. The mother refuses to grant permission for her daughter to participate. Instead, the girl is allowed to attend church, which, tragically, is destroyed in an act of terrorism. The theme of the poem is found in the mother's unsuccessful attempt to protect her daughter. A Heartbreaking Theme The poem's theme carries the message that no place is a safe haven against racial prejudice, especially when the government does not offer equal protection. The bombing occurred in 1963, a year before passage of the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The act banned the Jim Crow laws that upheld segregation in Southern states. The mother in the poem is afraid to allow her daughter to attend a civil rights rally because peaceful Birmingham protests had been suppressed with police violence. The church, traditionally a place of harmony, is seen as a better destination. However, the mother discovers that, during the 1960s, even churches are targets of violent prejudice. After the explosion, all she can find of her daughter is one shoe. Resources CNN: 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Fast Facts Photo Credits Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images.