ipl-logo

Analysis Of Ballad Of Birmingham By Dudley Randall

640 Words3 Pages

Imagery tends to be a literary device that is used in most poetry, and “Ballad of Birmingham” is no exception. Imagery is key to Randall’s delivery to allow the reader to envision the story how he wanted them to. Using the same words that he used to symbolize violence also allows us to visualize the violence. The words guns, hoses, and dogs allows the readers to understand what is happening. It makes the reader think back to a picture he or she has seen whether in a textbook or online. These pictures show us the true hate and resentment that some Americans had toward African Americans. In a later stanza, Randall describes the little girl getting ready for church. He uses phrases such as night-dark hair and small brown hands in order to remind …show more content…

The central theme of the poem is the death of a young girl, so it is clear to see that at some point in the poem the mood will put the reader into a state of sadness or pity for the little girl and her mother. The mood begins with the cover image for the “Ballad of Birmingham” in Dudley Randall’s Broadside Press. “The card format and the somber illustration of six figures huddled together, heads bowed, suggest a funeral” (Sullivan). The cover of the press is a black background with six white silhouettes with their heads bowed. “Drawings will do more than any other one feature” (Bornstein 713). Already the poem has given off a feeling of loss and sadness, but at the beginning of the poem it quickly switches to a happy mood. The daughter is asking to go march the streets in a freedom march, and the reader can sense a feeling of pride from the girl as she wants to march for her freedom like everyone else. The mood seems to stay the same as the mother is trying to protect her daughter from the violence that comes with the marches, and the daughter then gets ready for church. Then all of a sudden the mood switches. “For when she heard the explosion” (Randall 25). At this point, the mood turns from positive to sad and worrisome. “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, / But, baby, where are you?” (Randall 31-32). With these last two lines of the poem, the reader is able to feel the agony and despair that the mother is in at the

Show More
Related

The Watsons Go To Birmingham Poem Analysis

910 Words | 4 Pages

The poem “Making Sarah Cry” and the play “The Watsons go to Birmingham” have the similar theme of being different. In “Making Sarah Cry” Sarah is different from the other kids on the playground. In “The Watsons go to Birmingham” the Watson family have a different skin color so they are separated from whites to do everyday tasks. The texts, both share a similar theme but have different qualities. For example, in “Making Sarah Cry” only two people are excluded from playing with kids because of their differences.

Read More

Use Of Ethos In The Ballade Of Birmingham

229 Words | 1 Pages

In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham’’ written by Dudley Randal, some fellow peers might disagree with his ways of figurative captivation that he uses about the tragic events displayed to his audience, but believe it or not, there might be a few reasons behind this occurrence- and why it may have surpassed us all. First and foremost, the author took advantage of the heartbreaker and tear-jolter of literature known as Pathos. Pathos is the element of persuasion that was used to make his readers understand the mother’s pain and placement of losing an innocent child; your innocent child.

Read More

Juxtaposing The Black Boy And The Bullet Analysis

997 Words | 4 Pages

The images convey to the reader that the black boy and bullet struggle for survival. They are more similar and if they were both people more likely would be friends than enemies. The imagery that the poet uses is that it almost sounds like two boys growing up together with giving personification towards the bullet with it being fast and loud like a song. Other imagery would be the longing for warmth that both have and forcibly attempting to be hard.

Read More

Gospel Sam Sax Analysis

791 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem by Sax, he uses anaphoras in the end of the poem by using “this is … this is…” (l. 9-11) in the beginning of each sentence to describe the likeliness of each object to his emotion. The setting of his poem is more ambiguous than Levine’s poem but it could be inferred that it’s at night during winter it could also be in the character’s house during that time as the character remembers the memories that cause him to grieve. Levine’s poem uses symbolism to describe the character’s time of revelations during his process of grieving which is mentioned as a dance but is really the time spent walking in the woods (l. 19). The setting of Levine’s poem is in the woods which can be inferred from the imagery of pinecones and mountain

Read More

Ray Bradbury's Novel 'Fahrenheit 451'

859 Words | 4 Pages

The extend of this disconnect is revealed when Montag recites the poem “Dover Beach”, to which Mrs Phelps starts “sobbing uncontrollably”, exposing an inner sadness and depth to her character much like Mildred. Although a multitude of characters are presented as sad and shallow, Bradbury has demonstrated that those who transcend the expectations of

Read More

My Dungeon Shook By James Baldwin Analysis

958 Words | 4 Pages

Though many changes have transpired in America since the days of slavery, adversity, absence of chances and issues such unfairness and prejudice, which proceeds to gradually develop and encounter by a few, regularly thwarts one from prevailing. The topics of injustice and racism were greatly discussed in all the three letters from James Baldwin, Dr. Martin Luther King and Ta-Nehisi Coates. I thought all three letters were very powerful pieces, as they were beautifully written, reflective and moving. “My Dungeon Shook” by James Baldwin is a captivating read, it entails the social struggles faced in the US by African Americans and white stereotypes of black identity.

Read More

Religious Allusions In The Raven

961 Words | 4 Pages

This assonance begins the poem by setting the scene. We are able to interpret that the unnamed narrator is in a terrible mood, is fearful, and his anxiety is skyrocketing. This is set at midnight, which gives a feeling of uneasiness. These dark terms are emphasized by the assonance to give the

Read More

Imagery In My Papa's Waltz

898 Words | 4 Pages

“We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf;” (5-6) we already know that the father has been drinking, Roethke’s diction leaves little to the imagination but chosen carefully have put together an educated form of rough play. We also witness in the next two lines that the mother is not at all happy about the situation, “my mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself.” (7-8) If there is a positive message from this poem, we do not see it any longer. There is no mention of the mother helping; there is just an image of a mother standing back letting the waltz

Read More

Compare And Contrast Watson's Go To Birmingham

402 Words | 2 Pages

Have you ever rode in a car for more than 24 hours? The plot in the book of “Watson’s Go To Birmingham”, is about a family going on a trip to Birmingham in 1963 and experience an event that makes them see how wrong color in the south are treated. The plot in the movie is more about how colored had been fighting for their rights and all the event leading up to everyone becoming equal. In “Watson’s Go To Birmingham”, lots of events changed the plot like the movie is focused mainly on Civil Rights while the book isn 't, but Joey leaves the church before it blows up in both, so there are some similarities. There are many differences between the book and the movie, like in the book they all stayed down at Grandma Sands, but in the movie the dad didn’t stay with them.

Read More

Whiskey Lullaby Analysis

730 Words | 3 Pages

Imagery helps the readers or listeners see the story being told in different way. Good or Bad. The writer chose to uses imagery to grasp the audience into an sensory experience. In the song the symbols being used are “whiskey,” and “lullaby.”

Read More

Symbolism In Trethewey's Elegy

943 Words | 4 Pages

The Nature of Symbolism within Trethewey’s “Elegy” In this poem “Elegy,” Natasha Trethewey depicts the relationship between herself and her late father by means of a metaphor that carries throughout the entire poem. We see that an elegy is typically used to lament the dead, however the abstract language of this poem sends a more demining message. This connotative thought is exactly what Trethewey chooses to address through subliminal metaphors equipped with items typically used to destroy rather than build, along with symbolism that alludes to fighting adversity.

Read More

Literary Analysis Of Louise Erdrich's 'Captivity'

957 Words | 4 Pages

From here, a uniform mood and tone is set throughout the poem and can be seen heavily in not only the choice of words but, also the plot and structure of the poem. The theme of sympathy is really conveyed through Erdrich’s melancholic tone. Throughout the poem, we see a very gloomy and melancholic tone set by the events happening. “Until I could no longer bear / the thought of how I was” (51-52), these two lines portray her battle after she is rescued and how instead of her relief she is feeling a longing to be back with her captors. Lines similar to these two lead embody why the tone is so gloomy and sad especially when readers see the battle she is experiencing because she is safe now, away from her captors but, she doesn 't really want to be.

Read More

Summary Of Natasha Trethewey History Lesson

1215 Words | 5 Pages

The poem begins with the speaker looking at a photograph of herself on a beach where the “sun cuts the rippling Gulf in flashes with each tidal rush” (Trethewey l. 5-7). The beach is an area where two separate elements meet, earth and water, which can represent the separation of the different races that is described during the time that her grandmother was alive and it can also represent the two races that are able to live in harmony in the present day. The clothing that the two women wear not only represent how people dressed during the different time periods, but in both the photographs of the speaker and her grandmother, they are seen standing in a superman-like pose with their hands on “flowered hips” (Trethewey l. 3,16). The flowers on the “bright bikini” (Trethewey l. 4) are used to represent the death of segregation, similar to how one would put flowers on a loved one’s grave, and on the “cotton meal sack dress” (Trethewey l. 17) it is used to symbolize love and peace in a troubled society.

Read More

Poem Analysis Of 'Kindness' By Naomi Shihab Nye

698 Words | 3 Pages

The poem "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye speaks about how you experience kindness and what it really is. The main point in this poem is that in order to experience people's kindness you need to experience hurt, sorrow, and loneliness. The author says that when you loose everything and have no one or thing that when kindness comes along it lifts you up "and then goes with you everywhere/ like a shadow or a friend" (33-34). When portraying this message the author uses a sad but hopeful tone to send the message she wants to say. This tone helps portray the message because you can feel how sad someone is when they are lonely and they have nothing.

Read More

Black Rook In Rainy Weather Poem

1056 Words | 5 Pages

It was written when Plath’s marriage to Ted Hughes was in difficulty and she was suffering with depression. We are given an insight into the her inner feelings and trouble. She uses dark, disturbing and graphic imagery which reflects her mind at the time she was writing the poem. The state she describes is almost terrifying. The description of the poppies in the opening lines is positive.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Ballad Of Birmingham By Dudley Randall

Related Topics

Open Document