Essay about ballad of Birmingham

Dudley Randall's "Ballad of Birmingham" describes the events of one mother's tragedy. It tells the story of what happened in Birmingham. The "Ballad of Birmingham" refers to the day in 1963 when four black children were killed when the 16th street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed.

            This poem is a literary ballad. It has a rhyme scheme of abcb defe. There are two speakers in the poem both the mother and daughter. Through conversation we can get a sense of what the speakers are thinking and feeling. .

            In this poem a little girl asks her mother if she can go and march for freedom in the streets of Birmingham. Her mother told her she couldn't because, "the dogs are fierce an wild, and clubs and hoses, guns and jails, aren't good for children." The girl insists on going but her mother will not let her. Her mother tells her she should go to church and sing in the choir instead. The daughter goes and her mother smiles because she knows she is in a sacred place. The mother hears an explosion; she races through the streets to the church were all she found was the shoe her daughter wore. .

            This poem has a strange irony to it. A mother tells her daughters she cannot go and protest for it is too dangerous. She tells her to go to church instead and sing in the choir. Little does she know something so tragic as a bombing could happen at a place that is suppose to be so sacred. The ironic part is the daughter would have been safer marching the streets, but her mother did not want her to go because she thought is was dangerous. .

            In conclusion, I thought this poem was very good. I liked the way the author told the story through conversation. It described very well what was happening. We can get a sense of what seems to be a good is not always so. Sometimes what we think may be a better choice may not be true.

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