1. “Ballad of Birmingham” evokes emotion by the use of conflict, irony, and imagery throughout the poem. In the dialogue between the mother and daughter we see a child who wants her voice to be heard, and a mother who refuses her child’s request by insisting that she go to church: a place that the mother deems to be safe and free from the hatred that will come from the impending confrontation. Randall’s choice to use the ballad form along with his strong words help us to feel the mother’s fear for her child and we assume the mother knew, from stories of previous marches, that dogs, clubs, and fire hoses will be used on the peaceful protestors. At the same time, ironically, the mother is detached from what is going on around her and one must wonder if she believes that the horrors will go away if she pretends it does not exist. The poem’s emotional and dramatic intensity is the fact that what begins as a normal conversation—a private moment between a mother and child, turns into a horror story at the end as the mother realizes that her fears have come to fruition, in what she considers the safest of places. 2. Lyric poetry has always expressed both personal and emotional feelings. In the poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” we find a woman who is caught in the customs and culture of her time, an abused wife who knows that there is no way out of her situation. Rich uses the symbolism of the colorful tigers in the tapestry as the antithesis of who Aunt Jennifer is: they are strong, confident, and self assured; things she might dream of but will never be. In the second stanza we see Aunt Jennifer struggling to pull an ivory needle through the fabric as she works on the tapestry. The pull of the needle symbolizes the oppression Aunt Jennifer feels in her daily life as she is weighed down by / “The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band / Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.” Even in death, Aunt Jennifer cannot be free of the subjugation she has faced during her life time. However, her unspoken hopes and dreams will live on in the tapestry she has created / “The tigers in the panel that she made / Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
In Tim Seibles' poem, The Case, he reviews the problematic situations of how white people are naturally born with an unfair privilege. Throughout the poem, he goes into detail about how colored people become uncomfortable when they realize that their skin color is different. Not only does it affect them in an everyday aspect, but also in emotional ways as well. He starts off with stating how white people are beautiful and continues on with how people enjoy their presence. Then he transitions into how people of color actually feel when they encounter a white person. After, he ends with the accusation of the white people in today's world that are still racist and hateful towards people of color.
In Dundley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” a mother-daughter debate over the freedom march breathes the characters into life by empowering them with exclusive voices. Furthering the mother and daughter’s story through a third voice, Randall introduces the narrator’s cold and callous voice in the fifth stanza. The voices in the ballad emotionally connect the readers to the characters and the bombing of Birmingham.
The lady seems to be poor “suffering along in her broke shows” tells us that she has nothing and is worthless. Emotive language has been used to visually describe how she looks. “with a sack of bones on her back and a song in her brain” this expresses that she in a free, happy minded lady and doesn’t really take note of what she doesn’t have. " to feed the outlaws prowling about the Domain” This tell us that she most likely does this act of kindness very often, not having much at all and simple giving the outlaws something to feed on. “proudly they step up to meet her” Giving this visual effect makes us understand the power this lady has for these feral cats and to also see how much this lady means to this cats. “with love and power” - juxtaposition, again shows us the emotive language between the two this also means that she has a sense of power which she doesn’t have with the outer world. This perception of the lady is very different as to what how we see her. She is to be seen as a person who you wouldn’t want so associate with. Throughout the poem she has been moved from a princess to a queen with the development of metaphors. But to the cats she is the queen and this really depicts the distinctively visual. Douglas Stewart is seeing her as this queen who is celebrated and appreciated by the cats but this is not how she feels with society. With this connection between the cats, it gives us a deeper understanding of how to perceptions of each individual sees the world. Every individual has their own sense of views of the
In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, by Dudley Randall, many different things can be analyzed. The difference in the two translations; one being a literal translation, telling the true meaning of the poem, and the other being a thematic translation, which tells the author’s theme and symbolism used in his/her work. Another thing that all poets have in common is the usage of poetic devices; such as similes, metaphors, and personification.
Another example were Rich uses symbolism occurs in the second stanza: “The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band / Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand” (7-8). The symbol that is expressed in these two lines is the wedding band. The images that these lines portray are of a very heavy wedding band on the hand of a woman. Initially, you would think that the wedding band is very large and thick because the author explains that it is heavy on her hand. A heavy wedding band would be a problem for someone who enjoys weaving wool into tapestry, making it more difficult to maneuver your hand to do such intricate work. Yet, the underlying message of this symbol is that she has many restrictions in her marriage that are weighing her down, like a
The three sources I have selected are all based on females. They are all of change and transformation. Two of my selections, "The Friday Everything Changed" by Anne Hart, and "Women and World War II " By Dr. Sharon, are about women’s rites of passage. The third choice, "The sun is Burning Gases (Loss of a Good Friend)" by Cathleen McFarland is about a girl growing up.
Dudley Randall's Ballad of Birmingham gives a poetic account of the bombing of a Birmingham church in 1963. The poem was written in ballad form to convey the mood of the mother to her daughter. The author also gives a graphic account of what the 1960's were like. Irony played a part also in the ballad showing the church as the warzone and the freedom march as the safer place to be.
The “Ballad of Birmingham” is written by Dudley Randall. It was written in 1963, after the church bombing in Birmingham. The author wrote this poem as a tribute to the victims of the bombing. The theme of the poem is race and violence. This poem gives a hint about the socio-political environment during the segregation era. However, this poem was also used to make awareness about problems faced in society. The irony of the poem is that her mother thinks the political march is not a safe place for her daughter so, she sends her to church instead. What happens next is completely opposite, her mother hears an explosive sound in the church. The explosive was planted knowingly because it was an African-American church. This hate crime took four innocent lives.
Both poems have a parent that cares about them. The mother in “Ballad of Birmingham” tries to protect her daughter from potential violence by not letting her go to the freedom march. Even though the daughter really wants to go out to march and make a difference the mother sends her to safest place she knows. Chur...
2. What are the symbolic significances of the candy store in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "The Pennycandystore Beyond the El" (Geddes, 318)?
On September 15, 1963, a bomb detonated on the east side of the church, killing four young girls and sending families across America into horrific shock. As difficult as it was to respond to this tragedy, Dudley Randall, an African-American writer and poet, wrote his sorrow into the lines of “Ballad of Birmingham.” The rhyming poem with simplistic style and heart wrenching matter tells of a time when those who fought to keep the spirit of equality alive were also mourning the death of four young girls. The historical event described in the poem happened to four African-American mothers and daughters in Birmingham. However, I will argue that Dudley Randall’s, clear and simplistic, use of poetic singsong effects, the tradition of broadside ballads, diction, and symbolism in “Ballad of Birmingham” is designed to draw empathy from any reader, no matter his or her race, as the poem itself lends to a violent ending that helps readers feel how heart-rending this racist, cowardly violence was, leaving them in a space of
Author Dudley Randall wrote this poem to show that children were racism victims of the civil rights movement. Children didn't even know half the things that were going on at that time. Like in the poem the mother didn't even want her daughter to march beside her. The mother knew what dangers there would be , the kid did not. As in turns of events the mother left her child in the church thinking her daughter was secured and safe. When she came back it was bombed and the church had fallen
The poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich was written in 1950. At first glance, it appears to be a feminist piece whose sole purpose is to point out the ways in which a particular woman (Aunt Jennifer) is oppressed. However when a closer look is given, there is much more to this piece. When the poem is read line by line, much more meaning can be gleaned from it.
Critical Analysis of One Art PoemCritical Analysis of "One Art" PoemThe art of losing isnt hard to master so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster (lines 1-3). In order to understand the meaning of the poem One Art, its opening lines provide the foundation for the whole. Due to the fact that so many things intent to be lost it should not seem disastrous when they are actually lost, yet somehow it still is a disaster. The paradox of this statement is evident by a combination of the poems opening and closing lines. The opening lines seem to say that when something follows its natureits intent it is not a disaster and should, therefore, not be viewed as one. Yet the closing lines, Even losing youIts