Ballade of Birmingham by African American poet

Ballad of Birmingham

Ballad :  A narrative poem which can be sung.

Birmingham: city in the state of Alabama in the united state of America.

Poet: He is an African American poet.

Time setting: 1963

Place setting: In a room, in a house,  in a city of Birmingham in the state of Alabama in the united state of America. 2-  Baptist Church.

Speakers: the speakers are two characters, mother and her daughter. The speech is given in direct  speech. The third speaker is  the poet as the narrative of the story.

Type: Ballad.

Tone : in this poem, two main tones are prevailing.

The daughter's tone of wanting and desire.

The mother's tone of refusal at the start of the poem and finally the mother's tone of sadness over the loss of her child.

Occasion: the 1963 bombing of the 16^th street in Baptist church in the city of Birmingham that resulted in the death of four young girls and the injury of fourteen.

Climax: the mother's hearing of the bomb explosion.

The story in brief:

It is about a young girl who is forced to go to the church by her mother because she thinks it is the safest place to be at that time. However, her feeling proves to be wrong and the young girl is killed by the bomb explosion.

The end:

It is an open end. The mother finds her daughter's shoe but not the daughter herself. No more details are given but readers feel that the mother had lost her child.

Paraphrase:

First stanza:

The speaker is the daughter. She is asking her mother to allow her to go to the center of the town instead of going out to play. She wants to participate in a march among the streets of Birmingham. A freedom march she has heard of.

Second stanza:

The mother refuses to let her child go. The streets outside are dangerous for her little daughter. The police are everywhere accompanied with mad and brutal dogs. They are catching long sticks. They may use water hoses and guns to dissipate demonstrators. If any is arrested , he will be put in prison.

Third stanza:

In an attempt to persuade her mother, the child informs her mother that she is not planning to go out alone. She will go out with a group of people. They really want to march the streets in order to set their country free.

Fourth stanza:

The mother refuses to let her child go and participate in such a freedom march because the police may be obliged to use guns. Rather , she agrees to allow her to go to the church to sing with a group of children instead.

Fifth stanza:

When the simple problem is settled, the child starts to prepare herself.  She takes a shower until she smells like a sweet rose. She has combed and brushed her black hair. She wears white gloves on her little brown-skinned hands and bright white shoes on her feet.

Sixth stanza:

The mother is quite happy. A beautiful smile is drawn upon her face because she knows that her daughter will not be harmed in such a sacred place. That smile that brightens her face will be the last smile in her life.

Seventh stanza:

Just then, the mother hears a bomb explosion. She becomes mad and soon she sheds tears. She is now running through the streets , calling out her daughter's name.

Eighth stanza:

The mother's feet are torn by pieces of glass and brick out of the bomb explosion. Then, she picks up her little daughter's shoe. Finally , she says, if this is her child shoe, where her child might be.

Form :

It is written in the form of stanzas divided into 8 quatrains. It is written in closed form in which the poet follows a specific shape of the poem. The rhyme scheme goes as abcb. Only lines 2 and 4 rhyme in each stanza.

        The first stanza can serve as a good example :

Mother dear, may I go downtown  a      
Instead of out to play,  b
And march the streets of Birmingham  c
In a Freedom March today?" b

The use of perfect  masculine  rhyme in order to make his poem somewhat musical. E.g. Wild and child.

Internal rhyme: it happens in the middle of the line. E.g. no, no , and  smile, smile.

Crossed rhyme : it happens in two following lines.

Beat :

 since it is modern, it doesn't follow a specific beat or rhythm.  It is colloquial and conversational.

Language:

1- It is characterized by simplicity, clarity, accuracy and familiarity.

2-It is narrative. It has the same style that it is used in narrating a story.

3-It is repetitive. Repetition of words such as march and freedom.

Repetition of the first line "rondeau".

"No, baby, no, you may not go,

Internal refrain : repetition of lines in the middle of the stanza.  And march the streets of Birmingham

Types of refrain :

Internal refrain: the repetition of the lines in the middle of the stanza.

End refrain: the repetition of the last line in the stanza.

Incremental refrain : the repetition of the line with some words change.

4-It is descriptive : stanza 5 , the description of little girl's outer appearance.

5-It is prose – like style. We have the same word order. E.g.

But, mother, I won't be alone.

Lines differ in length. Stanza 5  6--

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

And bathed rose petal sweet,

It has mono-syllabic words. 7-

No, baby, no, you may not go,

It is characterized by the lack of figures.- 8

No inversions are used.   9-

 10-Lines are given in direct speech. From stanza 1 to 4 it is direct. The last two lines of the final stanza " direct speech".

Themes:

It is a simple theme of the mother's love to her child. The theme of love is mixed with the human being's fear about some other dearest. At the end of the poem, the theme of love with fear will be surrounded by the atmosphere of sadness.

Main ideas:

Violence leads to destruction.

The American society suffers from racial segregation. " the differences between black and white".

Man is walking toward his own destiny.

Care never prevents fate.

Tones :

Questioning tone:

 the first stanza serves as a question directed by the child to her mother asking her to let her go and participate in marching the street of Birmingham.

Refusal tone:

 in the second stanza , the mother refuses to let her child go.

Terrified tone :

 dogs , guns and jail are used by the mother because she is scared if her child goes out and participates in such a horrible situation.

Persuasive tone :

 in the third stanza , the child is trying to persuade her mother to let her go and march the streets of Birmingham.

A tone of a person given an alternative.

But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir."

Happy and relaxing tone :

 the mother is happy and relaxed that her child will go to the safest place, church.

Anticipating tone:

 the mother feared when she heard the bomb explosion.

Touching tone :

the mother finds her daughter's shoe but not the daughter herself.

Conversational tone:

 the whole poem is a short dialogue between a mother and her little child.

Figures of speech:

Metaphor:

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

The daughter's black hair is compared to night.

And bathed rose petal sweet,

The smell of a child after taking shower is compared to a sweet rose.