BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM BY DUDLEY RANDALL

Brought to you by :

Hafizah Binti AzharUmi Kartini Binti Azizul Rahim

Dudley Randall’s Background January 14, 1914 - August 5, 2000

Washington D.C. Moved to Detroit in 1920. Parents :

Arthur George Clyde (a Congressional Minister) Ada Viola Randall (a teacher)

Marriage : Ruby Hudson in 1935 Mided Pinckney in 1942 Vivian Spencer in 1957

Studies and Carriers 1932 to 1937 - He worked in a foundry of the Ford Motor

Company in Dearborn, Michigan. 1938 to 1943 - Clerk at a Post Office in Detroit. Served in military during World War II. 1949 - He was working at a post office while he was

attending Wayne State University in Detroit. In Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

1951 - He completed his Master’s degree in Library Science at the University of Michigan.

Librarian at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, then at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland.

1956 - he returned to Detroit worked at the Wayne County Federated Library System as head of the reference-inter loan department.

Randall’s Development Towards Poetry

He developed an interest in poetry during his school years. At the age of thirteen, his very first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press.

He wrote one of his famous poems, Ballad of Birmingham, in response to the 1963 bombing of a Baptist church in which four girls were killed.

1965. - Randall established the Broadside Press in 1966 - The first collection by the press was Poem Counterpoem . 1968 - He then published Cities Burning in response to a riot in

Detroit. 1970 - Love You , 1971 - More to Remember  1973 - After the Killing in.

Other Randall’s Masterpieces  The Profile on the Pillow  Rabaul On Getting A Natural (For Gewndolyn

Brooks) Luzon Langston Blues Green Apples Booker T. and W.E.B. Ballad Of Birmingham A Poet Is Not a Jukebox        

SummaryDudley Randall’s Ballad of Birmingham depicts an African-American mother and her daughter conversing about a “Freedom March” in the streets of Birmingham. The young child asks permission to participate in the march, but her mother objects and describes the dangers that exist for the freedom marchers. Instead, she is sent to church, which is consider to be a place of safety. Soon, after the daughter leaves for church, an explosion is heard. The mother unfortunately discovers that her daughter’s life has been taken from her in one violent act of racism. Consequently, the mother must accept reality and cope with the loss of her child.

AnalysisStanza Meaning

Stanza 1 •The daughter asks her mother’s permission to join the march at the streets of Birmingham

Stanza 2 •The mother worried of the fierce and wild dogs (police dogs) and police will harm her daughter

Stanza 3 •The daughter eager to join the march as she said she won’t be alone .

Stanza 4 •The mother still not allows her daughter to go.•She is worried that there will be people shooting•She tell her daughter she may go to the church and join the children’s choir but not the march

Stanza Meaning

Stanza 5 The daughter get ready to go to the church

Stanza 6 The mother is relieves to know that her daughter will be in a safe place.

The daughter smiles at her without realizing that it is the last from her

Stanza 7 When she heard the explosion, her eyes get wet and wild looking for her child

Stanza 8 She push away the glasses and bricks.Then, she found a shoe that her daughter wore. However, she couldn’t find her.

Characters and Characteristics

•Characters •Characteristics

Mother • Protective: wants to protect child from potential violence + sends her to safest place she knows, her church

•High instinct: knows freedom march will probably end in violence •marchers being attacked • fierce dogs, guns, clubs & hoses + then put in jail.

• Naive: thinks church safe place beyond reach of racial hatred.

Character Characteristics

Daughter • Revere (to feel great respect towards something or somebody): puts on best clothes to show respect for church as place of worship

• Obedient: does what mother tells her + goes to church

• Matured : She is eager to join to fight for freedom

Theme Racism  No place is safe from racial hatred

if a society does not provide equal protection and punishment under the law.

that parents can not always protect their children, no matter how hard they try.

1963 Bombing

Tone

A sad poem The poem shows how a mother wants to

protect her child from the dangers of protesting by sending her child to church. The mother believed that the church was too sacred of a place for bad things to happen like a church bombing. But when she heard the explosion sound of a bomb going off, she knew that her belief about the church being safe from danger was wrong.

The Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme is A-B-C-B

“ No, baby, no, you may not go, (A)For I fear those guns will fire. (B)But you may go to church instead (C)And sing in the children’s choir.” (B)

Literary Devices ImageryImagery that cause a feeling of

panic Examples:i. stanza 7 (line 25) - “explosion”ii. stanza 7 ( line 27) - “ raced”

Images of fights and riotsExamples:i. stanza 2 (line 6) - “ fierce” and “ wild”ii. stanza 2 ( line 7) - “ clubs” and “ hoses”

Images of a pure and innocentExample:i. stanza 5 ( line 18) - “ rose petal sweet”

Virtual imageryExample:i. stanza 5 (line 19) - “ And drawn white gloves on her

small brow hands”

Olfactory imageryExample:i. stanza 5 (line 18) - “ And bathed rose petal sweet”

IronyExamples: i. The fact that the mother fears for her

child’s safety and sends her to what she believes is a safe place is ultimately where her daughter meets her demise.

In stanza 4: “ No baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the children’s choir.”

ii. The fact that her mother dresses her in her fancy church clothes, white gloves included, which is ultimately the dress in which one might be buried.

In stanza 5: “ She has combed and

brushed her night-dark hair, And bathed rose petal

sweet, And drawn white gloves on

the her small brow hands, And white shoes on her

feet.”

AlliterationExamples:i. stanza 4 (line 14) - “For I fear those guns will fire” ( repetition of consonants “f” )

ii. stanza 7 (line 26) - “ Her eyes grew wet and wild” ( repetition of consonants “ w”

Assonance - used in the repeated line Examples:i. In stanza 2(line 5) and stanza 4 (line 13) “No, baby, no, you may not

go,” (repeat in line 5 and 13 with “ o” sound)

ii. In stanza 6 (line 21) “ The mother smiled to

know that her child” ( repeat in line with “d” sound )

MetaphorExamples:i. stanza 5 describe the mother preparing her

child to go to church. The child’s hair color is described as “night-dark” in direct contrast with her “white gloves” and “white shoes.”

describe her scent after bathing as “rose petal sweet.”