Ode On A Grecian Urn And Ballad Of Birmingham

1175 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Innocence in american literature

The “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and the “Ballad of Birmingham” are both poems that emphasize the theme of innocence. However, each poem displays innocence differently. In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” a person shows innocence — more specifically a little girl who gets killed in a fire at the end of the poem. “Ode on a Grecian Urn” demonstrates innocence in quite different way, because it shows it through a piece of art and the interpretation of what that art represents. Even though both poems represent innocence as a main theme, “Ballad of Birmingham” portrays the theme of innocence more effectively through irony and symbolism. The poem “Ballad of Birmingham” is a sonnet written to emphasize how terrible the bombing of Birmingham was during the Civil Rights movement. One of the main literary devices used to help portray this goal, is the theme of …show more content…

This theme shows mostly through the actions of the little girl who wishes to go march in the freedom march, but her mother wants her to go to church instead so she will be safe. The first identifiable part of the poem where it demonstrates innocence is when the little girl does not understand why the march is a dangerous situation. Even after her mother lists several reasons she does not want her daughter to go, such as, attack dogs, guns, and hoses, the little girl still replies, “But mother, I won’t be alone/ Other children will go with me/ And march the streets of Birmingham/ To make out country free” (Randal 520, ll. 9-12).The girl can not comprehend how dangerous this march will be, partly because she does not understand how harsh people are to one another. On the other hand, in the “Critical Essay on ‘Ballad of Birmingham,’” Semansky makes another significant point on how little girl is innocent when

Show More
Related

  • Symbolism In Ballad Of Birmingham

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first four stanzas are a conversation between the mother and daughter. The daughter asks for permission to attend a civil rights march. The child is a unique one who believes that sacrificing something like “play[ing]” for a march that can make a difference will be worthwhile (2). However, the mother understands that the march is not a simple march, but a political movement that can turn violent. The mother refuses the child’s request, which categorizes the poem as a tragedy because it places the child in the chur...

    Read More

  • Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Analysis

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading these poems is an incredible learning experience because it allows readers to view segregation through the eyes of someone most affected by it. In the U.S. History course I took I didn’t take away the details and specific examples I did from reading and researching Brooks’ work. For example, the history textbook only mentioned one specific person who was affected by segregation, that person was Rosa Parks. The example of Rosa Parks demonstrated just one isolated incident of how black people were punished if they disobeyed the laws of segregation. In contrast, Brooks’ work demonstrates the everyday lives of black people living with segregation, which provides a much different perspective than what people are used to. An example, of this would be in Brooks’ poem “Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat”. The speaker of this poem hired a black maid and referred to her as “it”(103). By not using the maid’s name or using the pronoun her, the speaker is dehumanizing the maid. This poem expresses to readers that white people thought that black people weren’t like them, that they weren’t even

    Read More

  • Self Identity Langston Hughes

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poem opens a thought of the American Dream, about what he wants America to be, and his hope for the country. The beginning line of the poem entails that America has to be the same America it once was, to me it’s a lie. America back then practiced slavery and oppression, it destroyed the lands of people to build their own homes. The ideal of an “America” was all a dream. It’s what they wanted for their America to be. We as people should be able to rise up and redefine the American equality and take back our land. The poem serves a powerful message of equality. The theme of this poem is against injustice and inequalities that exist in America and that can corrupt the American dream. All characters in the novels we read for the semester i.e. The African, Quick skills, and Tucker, have a lot of similarities with the poem, “Let America Be America Again”. They led their people to freedom by fighting against slavery and restrictions. The African escaped from his master. The African vowed to be free and never be enslaved again. Quickskill came to liberate the fellow slaves, who were enslaved in his master 's plantation. Tucker realized that he had some worth, and wanted freedom for his family. All three of these characters laid their lives on the line for their fellow men. They would rather prefer to die with dignity rather than become a white man’s property. They wanted

    Read More

  • Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. The mother, on the other hand, is very adamant that the child should not go because it is dangerous. It is obvious that the child is concerned about the events surrounding the march and wants to be part of the movement. The child expresses these feelings in a way the appears mature and cognizant of the surrounding world, expressing a desire to support the civil rights movement rather than to ?go out and play.? The desire to no longer be seen as a child and have her voice heard by those being marched against and by her mother (who can also be seen as an oppressive form of authority in this poem) is expressed by the first few lines. The opinion of the child is much like that of all young people who want to fight for their freedom.

    Read More

  • Dudley Randall Emotions

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, a poem shows feelings and emotions. In the poem, “The Ballad of Birmingham,” by Dudley Randall, it states in stanza 7,

    Read More

  • Ballad Of Birmingham

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Black Man Talks Of Reaping And From The Dark Tower

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust

    Read More

  • In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Tyger (An analysis of the poems, Lamb and Tyger using Songs of Innocence and Experience)

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    To being with, the poem “The Lamb” by William Blake fits into the category Songs of Innocence by using simplistic views and easy language. This poem is written using very simple words and English along with a rhyming scheme. For example, “Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly and bright, Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice!” (Blake, The Lamb, page 784, lines 5-8) This poem is written for children since it uses a comforting tone and an almost soothing voice. From these examples it is for an educated reason that this poem shall be placed in Songs of Innocence. Due to the fact that this poem is made for the warm hearted, and for young children this poem shows the innocence of the lamb in its entirety. Th...

    Read More

  • The Last Hope for Beauty In Truth

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literature, as does philosophy and art, follows a continuous wave; with every the crest of a new era, there is a trough from the pervious era. When a new age of style and ideals surfaces, the ideas are often directly against the ideas of the previous period. The Romantic period was an era of emotion, it was no longer about logic or preciseness as it was during the time of Enlightenment period. Both artists and poets of the Romantic period, like John Keats, focused on the expression of feeling and demonstrated an affinity for nature. In John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Keats brings to life images displayed on an ancient urn. The images, that become displayed in our minds, are of beauty, love, and happiness, all which have been conserved throughout the years despite the rise and fall of civilizations and kingdoms. This creation parallels the seemingly ideal and eternal world depicted on the urn, with the world Keats was born to live in. The truth that is extracted from this poem provides both answers and mysteries that, as T.S. Elliot explains, can either be seen as a “blemishing” factor or something truly profound. If it had not been for the upbringing Keats had growing up, his work would not have captured the same mastery it does now that is seen in his manipulation of sound, and use of rhetorical devices.

    Read More

  • The Beauty of Potentiality in Keats’ “Grecian Urn”

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Keats’ belief in the beauty of potentiality is a main theme of him great “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” This idea appears in many of his other poems that precede this ode, such as “The Eve of St. Agnes,” but perhaps none of Keats’ other works devote such great effort to showcase this idea. The beauty of the Grecian Urn (likely multiple urns), and its strength as a symbol, is a masterful mechanism. Just about all facets of this poem focus on an unfulfilled outcome: but one that seems inevitably completed. Thus, while the result seems a foregone conclusion, Keats’ static world creates a litany of possible outcomes more beautiful than if any final resolution.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ode On A Grecian Urn

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” tells the story of a man who finds an ancient urn and examines the images depicted on it marveling at the state of the urn’s beauty. He thinks of the urn as some kind of storyteller. As he inspects the images he wonders about the legends they recount and the place they came from. As he slowly turns the urn he first views a depiction of a group of men that seem to be following a group of women, he wonders what story the picture could be telling. He continues to turn the urn and he sees a picture of a boy playing a pipe while lying with his lover beneath a tree. He comments on the pipe’s melodies saying that they are sweeter than normal melodies because they are unheard and unchanged

    Read More

  • Mood And Theme In Ode On A Grecian Urn By John Keats

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first stanza of a poem plays a vital role in developing the theme and mood of a poem. It gives insight on what the poem is going to be about. In John Keats work, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, a poem describing the life of a picture on an old urn, the first stanza of the poem does just that. The first stanza is written in Keats poem is an introduction to the old stories and pictures the urn displays:

    Read More

  • The Lamb vs. The Tyger By William Blake

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay I am going to be looking at two poems from the Songs of innocence and experience works. These poems are The Lamb and The Tyger written by William Blake. Both these poems have many underlying meanings and are cryptic in ways and both poems are very different to each other. In this essay I will be analysing the two poems, showing my opinions of the underlying themes and backing them up with quotes from the poems. I will compare the poems looking at the similarities and differences between them and also look at each one individually focusing on the imagery, structure and the poetic devices William Blake has used. Firstly I will look at the Tyger a poem about experience.

    Read More

  • The Writings of William Blake

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    The “Songs of Innocence” represents naïve hopes and fears that are consuming children’s thoughts. In general, Songs of Innocence contains idyllic poems, many of which deal with childhood and innocence. Idyllic poems have pretty specific qualities, in which they’re usually positive, sometimes extremely happy or optimistic and innoc...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Little Girl Lost by Blake

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    "A Little GIRL Lost" from Songs of Experience is one of Blake's most important poems. Though judging the aesthetic value of a poem is nearly impossible, I would contend that "A Little Girl Lost" is "better" than "The Little Girl Lost" found in Songs of Innocence. Perhaps because "A Little Girl Lost" was composed as an afterthought to its original counterpart, having been first written in "Innocence," it acts as a conclusion to the original poem. The two poems both observe a young girl as she encounters a world filled with innocence (in "The Little Girl Lost") and a world of experience ("A Little Girl Lost"). In first poem, a young seven-year-old girl named Lyca falls asleep in the wilderness under a tree. While her parents worry about her, she sleeps innocently in the woods with a lion prancing around her while she slumbers. The poetic vision seems to be a portrayal of young love--of innocence unprotected in the passion-haunted forest. In the second poem, found in "Experience," the feeling shifts from innocence to suggest a subversive course of love exploration. The young girl, Ona, discovers passion only to find that her father has a negative view on the very love she has just been introduced to. "A Little Girl Lost" seems to be much deeper in thought than "The Little Girl Lost." This depth in content begins with the title, which gives the poem an aura of uneasiness. A feeling that it is dangerous or sinful stems from word "Little" ...

    Read More

More about Ode On A Grecian Urn And Ballad Of Birmingham

Open Document