The faded voices of choir singers are muffled by a roaring explosion. The sounds from the crumbling building spread down the block. Worn-down bricks, knocked out from underneath each another. Shards of colored glass, shot into the air. Chucks of wood and rubbish litter the sidewalk. Thick smoke and fearful screams saturate the air. A mother’s worse nightmare.
In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall, a mother attempted to protect her daughter by sending her to church. However, in the end, the child has her entire life stolen from her. The dramatic situation in the poem is portrayed and developed through Randall’s use of descriptive imagery, dialogue, irony, and a tonal shift.
Randall’s use of descriptive imagery shows the mother’s love for her daughter and sets up the dramatic situation. “She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair” (line 17). Through the carefully combing of her daughter’s hair, the reader can tell the mother takes a tremendous amount of pride in her daughter’s appearance. The quote also shows how profoundly the mother loves her daughter. Then when describing the girl’s shoes and gloves, Randall selects the color white. The color is represents of her purity and innocence.
Descriptive imagery is also dominant in line 29 “She clawed through bits of glass and brick,” allows the reader to vividly picture the mother frantically digging through the crumbling remains of the church in search of the daughter she holds dear to her heart. Clearly picturing the frantic mother the readers can feel how dramatic the situation is and the devastating, emotional impact it will have on the mother’s life. The descriptive imagery adds to the dramatic situation by allowing the reader to picture the mother and bu...
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...s “Oh, here’s the shoe my baby wore/but baby, where are you?” The mother then realizes that the church was not a sanctuary as she was led to believe, but a place of extreme violence. The irony of the situation is that in the end, the streets of Birmingham filled with its “clubs and hoses, guns and jails,” (line 7) was a safer place for the child then her local church. The irony adds to the dramatic situation by giving the reader a false sense of hope and then quickly taking it away.
Pushing tears from her eyes, a frantic mother scrambles through what remains of her beloved church. But she does not locate her choir singer. Only a little white shoe and a glove to match. In his poem “Ballad of Birmingham,” David Randall uses descriptive imagery, dialogue, irony, and a tonal shift to give the poem emotion and draw the reader’s attention towards the dramatic situation.
Generally, adolescents feel as running away from home is a solution to all their problems. Most people think that running away from one’s problem leads to negative consequences, however, that is proven wrong, according to the novel Crabbe by William Bell. In the novel Crabbe by William Bell, 18-year-old Franklin Crabbe’s decision shows that running away is a considerable approach to solving one’s problems. He packs his bags and runs off into the woods in hopes of finding inner tranquility and freedom. Throughout his journey in the woods, Crabbe unexpectedly receives more than what he seeks for. In the woods, Crabbe receives great rewards such as quality moral support from a strong willed woman named Mary Pallas, he obtains many important survival skills, and he becomes an overall more responsible and mature person.
When it takes the milk glass back to the house, it describes the room as “dark and smelled like pine” (Howard-Johnson 35). After the incident it describes the scent of the room as “the smell of stale pine needles and flat punch” (Howard-Johnson 75). These are examples of imagery. The imagery in the first quote provided the reader an idea of the room’s characteristics. It is dark and it smells like pine. The second quote provided the reader an idea of the room’s characteristics of the room after the incident. It smelled like stale pine needles and flat punch. They also send the message that we should cherish things in our life now before they change. That room was a part of its life that was very recognizable. After the incident the characteristics changed and it can’t recognize it at all. If it cherished it before, the change wouldn’t hurt as bad. In the “Milk Glass” By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the author uses imagery to tell the reader that they should enjoy things in life while they last before they
The poem “Heritage”, written by Linda Hogan, tells the story of each trait she inherited and the lessons she learned from key members of her family. When analyzing poetry, there are many literary elements that the reader can observe. These elements can range from diction, syntax and rhyme schemes. In Hogan’s poem, there are three literary elements that stand out the most. These are figurative language, tone and diction. By using figurative language, Hogan can better communicate her ideas towards the audience. The use of tone allows the reader to understand the character’s feelings. Lastly, her choice of diction determines how the reader views the story. The author’s use of these three elements allows the audience to connect to the poem because
The writer uses imagery, because he wants to let the readers into his mind. By describing the scene for the readers, makes the readers fell like they were there. Therefore, it gives us a better ability to emphasize with him.
From the examples of figurative language and devices seen in the “Ballad of Birmingham”, the role of youth in society is ever changing. The days of youth being associated with innocence is gone and they are now driven to speak against issues in society. Yet, these youth can be lost without hesitation, concluding the cruel irony that the poem centres on a mother who wants to be sure her child is protected from the revolution, yet it is the sacred, the church where her young girl is lost, showing the merciless of society, where all is affected by the repercussions of an event, but only a few truly feel the harshness of it.
The tragic poem, “The Ballad of Birmingham,” begins with a young child asking an imploring question to her mother, “May I go downtown instead of out to play” (Randall, 669)?
Symbolism and imagery help Harwood to achieve the poem’s purpose in creating a sympathetic tone towards the woman’s struggle. The use of rhyming couplets and irregular short sentences create a hectic and disorganised structure and rhythm to the poem, which symbolises the mother’s life. Harwood uses emotive description and olfactory imagery to allow the audience to experience exactly what the woman is feeling. “A pot boils over.
In conclusion, although childhood is the main theme within all these poems, each reflects upon on a certain aspect of childhood. Half Past Two and Houses both dwell upon the creativity of childhood and the freedom it brings to children, who reside within ‘clockless land’ free of the responsibilities adulthood brings in Piano. Hide and Seek and Salford Road both seek to show us the process of growing up, and while Hide and Seek refers to the negative aspects of adulthood, Salford Road seems to represent the path to adulthood that all children must eventually go down. Finally Piano and Soap Suds brings to light the briefness of childhood, in addition the cherished memories that ‘summer’ brings to which all can escape to find solace and comfort.
Imagery consists of descriptive language that can function as a way for the reader to better imagine which draws on the five senses, namely the details of taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound. As the author describes the feelings and emotions about letting go of their son, she uses imagery to describe the way they are feeling and their actions. For example, “Where two weeks ago, / holding a hand, he’d dawdle, dreamy, slow,” (lines 13-14). The example of imagery is the sense of touch when describing her son’s walk to school while holding his hand when he was not alone. This adds the meaning of the poem because he is comfortable walking with his parents but becomes more nervous and anxious when not comforted by them. The imagery adds to the effect of its
Upon reading Robert Hayden's 1970 poem, 'The Whipping'; (1075), one may find themselves feeling very disturbed. The title is not subtle in hiding the fact that the plot of the poem is of a mother beating her son. The tone of the poem is very violent, and filled with a lot of anger. The boy's character immediately demands sympathy from the reader and just as instantaneously, the mother is hated by the reader. From his first stanza, to his sixth, Hayden utilizes an arsenal of words, symbols, and images to create a scene that is intense and emotional to the reader.
On September 15, 1963, a bomb detonated on the east side of the church, killing four young girls and sending families across America into horrific shock. As difficult as it was to respond to this tragedy, Dudley Randall, an African-American writer and poet, wrote his sorrow into the lines of “Ballad of Birmingham.” The rhyming poem with simplistic style and heart wrenching matter tells of a time when those who fought to keep the spirit of equality alive were also mourning the death of four young girls. The historical event described in the poem happened to four African-American mothers and daughters in Birmingham. However, I will argue that Dudley Randall’s, clear and simplistic, use of poetic singsong effects, the tradition of broadside ballads, diction, and symbolism in “Ballad of Birmingham” is designed to draw empathy from any reader, no matter his or her race, as the poem itself lends to a violent ending that helps readers feel how heart-rending this racist, cowardly violence was, leaving them in a space of
Sharon Olds writes her poems in a way that establishes intimate connection with the reader and creates deep meanings. Old’s graphically express her personal and emotional family life in her poems. Sharon Old’s uses methods of literary techniques such as metaphor, repetition, alliteration, imagery and symbolism to convey meaning in her poems. Old’s poems, The victims,One Year, The Race, and The Daughter Goes Camp have different meanings that reflects on her life. Olds use of the literary techniques help the reader understand and connect to the poem making it easier to find the meaning.
“Ballad of Birmingham” evokes emotion by the use of conflict, irony, and imagery throughout the poem. In the dialogue between the mother and daughter we see a child who wants her voice to be heard, and a mother who refuses her child’s request by insisting that she go to church: a place that the mother deems to be safe and free from the hatred that will come from the impending confrontation. Randall’s choice to use the ballad form along with his strong words help us to feel the mother’s fear for her child and we assume the mother knew, from stories of previous marches, that dogs, clubs, and fire hoses will be used on the peaceful protestors. At the same time, ironically, the mother is detached from what is going on around her and one must wonder if she believes that the horrors will go away if she pretends it does not exist. The poem’s emotional and dramatic intensity is the fact that what begins as a normal conversation—a private moment between a mother and child, turns into a horror story at the end as the mother realizes that her fears have come to fruition, in what she considers the safest of places.
In the poem, The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake (1789), the poet attempts to shine a light on the social injustice inflicted upon children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free them from their nightmare existence. He uses a child’s voice as the vehicle to deliver his message in order to draw attention to the injustice of forced child labor. The speaker is a young boy whose mother has passed away. He has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and his father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake cleverly uses sound, imagery, irony, and symbolism in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane treatment and exploitation inflicted upon young children by forcing them into the chimneys.
There are a number of reasons why the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop appeals to modern readers. The descriptive, vibrant language of Bishop transcends through time to appeal to every reader in all of her poems. What I admire the most about Elizabeth’s poetry is its combination of detailed, imaginative description and intriguing insight. She closely observes and vividly describes the world around her particularly like how Bishop’s poetry changes everyday scenes to vivid imagery. Bishop has a keen eye for detail, she transforms the visual images she observes into poetic language that creates clear images in the reader’s mind. This gives her poetry a powerful, visual quality, drawing the reader into the world she describes. She deals with a number of themes including death,loss,childhood,domesticity and the resilience of the human spirit also admire her ability to write a poem from a child’s point of view, so the poem can be seen through the eyes of a child. Bishop’s poems are rooted in personal experience, but have a genuine universal appeal.