Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall is a poem about a mother whose child who died when her church was bombed. The poem is about a Mother’s grief for her child and of how sacred places such as churches were not safe places for African Americans in the 1960’s. Many pure places were invaded by impurities during the 1900’s because of the oppression of African Americans. This poem is about the invasion of these pure places, not just churches but all places people go to for refuge or worship. Ballad of Birmingham is also a plea for those behind the bombing to withdraw and for those who are passive to take a side.
In the ballad of Birmingham there are a number of different techniques used to create a frantic, urgent rhythm, these are alliteration, assonance and dialogue.
Assonance creates the effect of urgentness because of the repetition of no in the sentence “no, baby, no, you may not go”. This makes it clear that the mother is adamant that her “Baby may not go” to the march because of its dangers and instead should go somewhere safe and pure, like church. It also shows the mothers love for her and the state of their society, where children feel the need to make their society a safe, free, happy place.
Alliteration creates the effect of making the poem move faster and shows that something really bad is happening or about to happen. There is alliteration in two lines in the poem “her eyes grew wet and wild” and “for I fear those guns will fire”. These two sentences of alliteration are linked because they are in two seperate parts of the poem. “Here eyes grow wet and wild” is in the second part and “for I fear those guns will fire” is in the first part. The significance of this is that what the mother feared would happen did happen, but not in the way that she thought. It shows that no matter how hard she tries, there are no longer any safe places. This alliteration makes the poem feel urgent and fast because they are slippery to say, this makes it seem like you are saying them faster, it also shows how easily the child slipped out of life. The alliteration shows that the child, who had years and years of life ahead of her could be snuffed out and killed so easily.
Dialogue creates the effect of a frantic, urgent rhythm by creating two different parts to the poem. The first half is dialogue with the mother and daughter conversing. “Mother dear, may I go downtown instead of out to play … no baby, no, you may not go”. The second half is 3rd person narration, this is a precursor to what is going to happen next. The second half of the poem gets faster and faster until the last line which is dialogue, “o, here’s the shoe my baby wore, but baby where are you?”. This line is split into two parts as well, “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore” is addressed to everyone, “but baby where are you?” is spoken only to her dead daughter. This split is similar to the larger split in the poem in that it shows that something terrible has happened. Both splits also show the mothers feelings towards her child. The first half of the poem is about the mother telling her child not to risk herself in a freedom march, and the second half is about her sending her child to a place that she thinks is safe. This is similar to the last line of the poem because the first half shows how familiar the mother is with her child, and the second part is about both the mother’s love and grief for her child. Both splits show one thing in common, the mother’s love for her child.
Dudley Randell wrote Ballad of Birmingham for a couple reasons: to inform people of the bombing, to convert people to his cause and to show his feelings about the bombing. You can see Dudley Randell’s perspective on the bombing throughout the poem. He deliberately makes the relationship between the mother and daughter very clear, he also makes the mothers grief a prominent part of the poem. This shows his sympathy for not just those killed by the bomb, but also their close relatives.
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