The document provides background information on poet Dudley Randall and analyzes his poem "Ballad of Birmingham". Randall was inspired to write the poem by the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four young black girls. The poem depicts a mother's concern for her daughter's safety as the child wishes to march for civil rights in Birmingham. Though the mother sends her daughter to church instead, thinking it safer, the daughter is killed when the church is bombed. The analysis examines literary devices like symbolism, imagery, tone and theme in the poem. It highlights the poem's exploration of a parent's inability to fully protect their child and the need to prepare children for an unjust society.

1. Poem Ballard of
Birmingham :
Dudley Randall
Prepared by,
Soon Ming Hui
Tan Siok Yong
Phoebe Hon
Liau Toh Tieh

2. Background of the Poet
• Born on 14 January 1914 in Washington
• Drew on civil rights movement, work
experiences and travelled for inspiration
• The bombing of a Baptist church in
Birmingham, resulting in the deaths of four
young African American girls inspired him to
write the poem.

3. Overview
It illustrates a conflict between a child who
wishes to march for civil rights and a mother
who wishes only to protect her child.
The child is eager to go into Birmingham and
march for freedom with the people there.
The mother, however wants to protect her
child from the danger of protesting by sending
her to church because she is fear for her
child's safety.

4. The mother believed that the church was too
sacred of a place for bad things to happen like a
church bombing.
 But when she heard the explosion sound of a
bomb going off, she knew that her believe about
the church being safe was wrong.
The death of the girl as portrayed in the poem
possibly was killed because of the racist issue.
Therefore, we have to always think about the
unexpected.

5. Literacy Devices

6. Symbol
Stanza 4
No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
War
Violence

7. Olfactory Imagery
Stanza 5
Bathed rose petal sweet

8. Visual Imagery
Stanza 5
Drawn white gloves on her small
brown hands

9. Tone and Mood

10. Tone and Mood
• First stanza – innocence
Example: The young child tries to act nice
and innocent to her mother so that her
mother lets her go to the march.
• Second stanza – concern
Example: Her mother tells her that there are
fierce and wild dogs, clubs, hoses, guns and
jails.

11. • Fifth stanza and the first half of the sixth
stanza – pride and joy
Example: Her mother is happy that she is
going to the church instead of going to the
march.
• Seventh stanza – melancholic and grief
Example: Her mother cries when she knows
that the explosion occurs at the church.

12. THEME

13. The main theme of this poem is
the parents cannot protect
their son or daughter forever
and ever.

14. Parents should give the chance to
their children so that they can
learn to protect themselves. This
is because someday, they will
have to face the society cruel by
themselves.

15. Irony

16. Racism- the belief that
inherent different
traits in human racial
groups justify
discrimination.

17. THANK YOU FOR
LENDING YOUR EARS……
THE END 