“Ballad of Birmingham”
by Dudley Randall
1. In what lines would you find examples
of verbal irony? How do you know
each example is verbal irony?
(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama,
1963)
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”
1
2
3
4
“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren’t good for a little child.”
5
6
7
8
“But, mother, I won’t be alone.
10 Other children will go with me,
11 And march the streets of Birmingham
12 To make our country free.”
2. In what line would you find a
metaphor? What two things are
compared?
9
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
“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.”
3. What is the mood of this poem?
(Mood is usually described with a single
adjective. A way to think of mood is the
emotion the writer wants the reader to
feel while reading the poem.)
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
The mother smiled to know her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
4. Why do you think the poet used the
word “white” twice in lines 19-20?
Think about the connotation of “white.”
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?”
5. How is this poem an example of ( a
sad) situational irony?
Cloke 1