Poem Ballard of Birmingham :Dudley Randall

Prepared by,Soon Ming Hui

Tan Siok YongPhoebe Hon

Liau Toh Tieh

Background of the Poet

• Born on 14 January 1914 in Washington • Drew on civil rights movement, work

experiences and travelled for inspiration• The bombing of a Baptist church in

Birmingham, resulting in the deaths of four young African American girls inspired him to write the poem.

Overview It illustrates a conflict between a child who

wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child.

The child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there.

The mother, however wants to protect her child from the danger of protesting by sending her to church because she is fear for her child's safety.

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 believe about the church being safe was wrong.

The death of the girl as portrayed in the poem possibly was killed because of the racist issue.

Therefore, we have to always think about the unexpected.

Literacy Devices

Symbol

No, baby, no, you may not go,

For I fear those guns will fire.

War Violence

Stanza 4

Bathed rose petal sweet

Olfactory Imagery

Stanza 5

Drawn white gloves on her small brown hands

Visual Imagery

Stanza 5

Tone and Mood

Tone and Mood

• First stanza – innocenceExample: The young child tries to act niceand innocent to her mother so that her mother lets her go to the march.

• Second stanza – concern Example: Her mother tells her that there are fierce and wild dogs, clubs, hoses, guns and jails.

• Fifth stanza and the first half of the sixth stanza – pride and joyExample: Her mother is happy that she is going to the church instead of going to the march.

• Seventh stanza – melancholic and griefExample: Her mother cries when she knows that the explosion occurs at the church.

THEME

The main theme of this poem is the parents cannot protect

their son or daughter forever and ever.

Parents should give the chance to their children so that they can

learn to protect themselves. This is because someday, they will

have to face the society cruel by themselves.

Ironychurch

is a holy place and

always safe fo

r people to

stay.

But nobody will k

now that a

explosion will h

appen there

mother’s

smile was the

last smile.

Racism- the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination.

THANK YOU FOR LENDING YOUR EARS……

THE END