Poetry analysis #3

Ballad of Birmingham

BY DUDLEY RANDALL

“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

Aren’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.”

“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.”

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.

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?”

Title: I think that the poem will have something to do with a day in Birmingham Alabama.

Paraphrase: In the first few stanzas a child is asking if he can go outside and celebrate with other children and his mother replies in the next stanza saying no that she would rather him just stay inside or go somewhere safe like church. In the next stanzas the mood shifts when the mother hears an explosion and she suddenly becomes frightened. In the last stanzas it is the mother looking for her child through the ruins of the explosion

Connotation: “But, mother, I won’t be alone.

Other children will go with me," Is rhyme it helps the poem roll off the tongue and it's easier for the reader to read. 

"Her eyes grew wet and wild" is imagery, you can image the way this woman looked when she heard the explosion and it makes it more real for the reader.

Attitude/Tone: In the beginning the tone is playful, just a conversation between a mother and her son. But towards the end it shifts to fearful when the mother hears the explosion and then sadness when she is looking for her son.

Shift: The last two stanzas shift the poem. It goes from playful to worrying and then to sadness. This shift makes the poem more serious and gets the meaning through.

Theme: The time that this poem is about was when racism was really popular in the South and bombings like this were very common.