Dudley Randall and Langston Hughes have both wrote poems on the same topic, the Birmingham Bombing of 1963 at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Besides the fact that the two authors published their poems at different times, a two-year difference to be exact, the poems have other considerable differences in how they present their versions of the bombing. In the Ballad of Birmingham, the poem Dudley Randall authored, tells the tale of a mother trying to protect her daughter from the dangers of the cruel, violent streets of Birmingham, Alabama. Randall, in his poem, used slant and exact rhymes to create an upbeat rhythmic tone to the story which later became a sadder, memorable tone as though the story were being recalled by an outside party. …show more content…
Hughes starts his poem by identifying the victims of the story. Hughes does not use as many rhymes, exact or slant, as Randall. As a result, the poem seemed to take a darker, serious tone. Unlike Randall, who recounted the bombing in the form of a backstory, Hughes took a more broad perspective. Hughes, first focuses on the victims, describing their death with blood on the walls, splattered flesh around the room. By adding these details, readers know that the four girls were the victims and how they died was horrid. Hughes also mentions torn to depict that what happened was painful for the victims, family, and to those who knew them. Hughes changes the direction of the poem, associating the dynamite with China and the red communist flag with the blood on the walls of the Sunday School. Hughes in his poem seems as if he is specifically angry with the Chinese for creating the explosive, dynamite. Hughes ends his poem without a doubt that the victims are dead, unlike Randall who leaves his open for speculation. Hughes also ends his poem saying that his hope is that one day, four girls will wake up to songs on the breeze, unfelt by magnolia trees. Though a magnolia tree is grown in the south, it is also commonly grown indoors in China. So, Hughes could be saying that even though the lives of four girls were taken by explosives created by the
Langston Hughes was a large influence on the African-American population of America. Some of the ways he did this was how his poetry influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Renaissance. These caused the civil rights movement that resulted in African-Americans getting the rights that they deserved in the United States. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and his grandmother raised him. She got him into literature and education; she was one of the most important influences on him. He moved around a lot when he was young, due to his parents divorce, but remained a good student and graduated high school. After this he traveled the world and worked in different places, all the things he saw in his travels influenced him. In 1924 he settled down in Harlem where he became one of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed listening to blues and jazz in clubs while he wrote his poetry. The music that he enjoyed greatly influenced the style and rhythm of his poetry. The poem “Dream Variations” by Hughes is about an average African-American who dreams of a world where African-Americans are not looked at or treated differently and they can rest peacefully. Yet in real life this was not so, black people and white people were not equal. And the world was not as forgiving and nice as in their dream. This poem is a good example of Hughes writing because it is typical of three things. The first is the common theme of the average life of an African-American and their struggles. Secondly, the style of his writing which is based on the rhythm of jazz and blues- he uses a lot of imagery and similes. Lastly, his influences which are his lonely childhood and growing up as an Afric...
In "Langston Hughes and the "Other" Whitman", George Hutchinson summarizes the similarities between Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Although Walt Whitman wrote during the American Antebellum Era and Hughes wrote during the Harlem Renaissance, both used their works to advocate for African Americans. Hughes greatly admired Whitman and felt that he had been ignored and underappreciated as a writer. Hughes’ admiration and respect for Whitman allowed him to develop his own unique style of writing and encouraged him to be a voice for those living in Harlem. Analyzing Whitman’s poetry enabled Hughes to find ways to incorporate aspects of Jazz and Blues into his poetry. Whitman and Hughes both integrated their opinions into their poetry and used
In the poem “The Names,” by Billy Collins, the speaker is calmly recalling people’s last names alphabetically as he notices them wherever he goes. At first it seems as though he is playing a game to see how many names he can think of. After reading the whole poem several times, it becomes clear that he is referring to people who died on September 11th. Collins uses imagery, a serious tone, and similes throughout the poem to show appreciation for the memory of the victims that died that tragic day.
James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University . During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington , D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.
Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall. In Ballad of Birmingham, Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem, the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there.
While Randall and Brooks chose this as the structure of their poems, they each adapted the standards of ballads to better fit their intended goal. In Randall’s poem “Ballad of Birmingham,” the ballad is shorter and follows an ABCB rhyme pattern, which makes the poem extremely rhythmic. This rhythm gives a song-like feature to the poem which conveys a certain happiness. As the reader follows the rhythm of the poem, it is hard to imagine anything bad happening and when the tragic ending ensues, it has a greater impact on the reader.
The time during the civil rights movement was full of great struggles for african american’s in the southern United States. During the 1950s-1960s we saw some of the most influential figures in civil rights movement, such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Park making strides for equal rights for all people. Even with these advancements for equality, the southern United States still had a lot of racial tension and people with the inability to accept change in the mentality for all people to be equal. It was where in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama where another tragic event took the lives of more innocent black people at the Seventeenth Street Baptist Church where a bombing was held that was orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan; This incident influenced a poet by the name of Dudley Randall to write the “Ballad of Birmingham”. This event was one of the most poignant moments in the african american search for liberty, which is a possibility why Randall chose to write this poem as a ballad. With the ballad being a piece of writing for a dramatic event, it makes the poem more memorable and significant to show how important it was to african americans during that era. This poem is in the voice of one of the mothers of the victims. As well as the use of the ballad, Randall uses examples of visual language and irony to really emphasize his point of poor current state for the progress for civil rights. These points are what really grabs the reader’s attention and tugs on the reader’s heart to what tragedies actually where happening to people during that time. There are many examples of this throughout the poem including one at the end where the mother reference her innocence earlier in the poem as she explains “ And drawn white gloves on her s...
Raymond and Roger are two kids who never really fit in in their city communities. In the two writings "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes and "Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara the two characters Raymond and Roger evolve as misfits all for the duration of the story through their actions, appearance, and what different characters say and feel in regards to them. Both novelists use characterization to create characters in the anecdotes as misfits. In my personal preference, I feel that author Langston Huges does a better job at this by portraying Raymond as a more developmentally delayed child compared to Roger who is not directly characterized as a problematic teen. This can be seen throughout my analysis of the story.
Writing the poem in ballad form gave a sense of mood to each paragraph. The poem starts out with an eager little girl wanting to march for freedom. The mother explains how treacherous the march could become showing her fear for her daughters life. The mood swings back and forth until finally the mother's fear overcomes the child's desire and the child is sent to church where it will be safe. The tempo seems to pick up in the last couple of paragraphs to emphasize the mothers distraught on hearing the explosion and finding her child's shoe.
On September 15, 1963 four men bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing and injuring many people. This had a huge impact on the world and what was going on at that time specifically in the United States. So, Richard Farina was inspired to write Birmingham Sunday to remember the horrendous acts that occurred on September 15, 1963. Because of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Richard Farina wrote “Birmingham Sunday” to reflect the occurrences at the church that day, show the significance of the bombing for the civil rights movement, and to remember the lives of the four girls that died.
Imagine a time in American history brimming with violence and hatred between races. Some might think of the nineteenth century, and the years leading up to the civil war, however there is another time period that can be addressed. This is the time period in the 1950s and 1960s, when the African American Civil Rights Movement was at its most powerful. These years were filled with racial contempt and bloodshed, and these were also the years in which Dudley Randall published one of his most famous works, “Ballad of Birmingham.” Written in 1969, “Ballad of Birmingham” is written about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that took place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, which took the lives of four African American girls. In this poem, Randall
I think Dudley Randall wrote it in poetic form for one simple reason to let the readers be more with what they are reading and putting it in poetic form brings more feelings towards it, You feel more aware while reading this. Randall wanted the readers to see and feel how the figurative language that is used to see how very one of them is used and by putting it as a poem it helps feel more of what happened in the tragedy of The Ballad of Birmingham. What really caught my attention in this poem was the inference of race and how Randall made it describe how much racism there was back then, his inference of race was ‘’ Small brown hands’’. I think he choose to use that because it shows that not being treated equal is not a good way of life.
Lawrence and Langston both have been compared to many notable poets. In the poems “Piano” by D. H. Lawrence and “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes both poets use speaker, tone and form as part of their strategy in composing their poems, while they have similarities they also have vast differences. They share likenesses in their poetry, however, when it comes to the form of these two poems and the manner in which they use words; the importance of word usage is different. These poets are innovative and celebrated, who try to unlock sound, song, rhythm and emotions through their poems. The poets poems “Piano” and “The Weary Blues” both use music as a theme, the use of speaker, tone and form are used to portray two different tales. Both Lawrence and Hughes gained their writing influences from their travels. This is evident through their mental conflict within these poems and how they passionately express themselves through language. Both poems use tone effectively to sets up the mood for the reader.
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.
Hughes emphasizes his message consistently throughout this poem, weaving in the most important line in the middle and end of the poem. He is representing his people. African Americans have waited and been abused by society, and this deepened and weathered their souls over time, just as a river would become deepened and weathered. Hughes’ soul, the collective soul of African Americans, has become “deep like the rivers” (5). This simile speaks that the rivers are part of the body, and contribute to this immortality that Hughes is so desperate to achieve for his people. Rivers are the earthly symbols of eternity: deep, constant, mystifying.