"Ballad of Birmingham" Outline

Thesis: Dudley Randall’s simplistic word choice and rhythmical structure in “Ballad of Birmingham” starkly contrast the violent imagery, establishing an ironic commentary on the brutality of the Birmingham bombing and forcing the reader to generate his own righteous anger.

The rhythmical structure of the poem contributes to the poem’s irony; although it sounds upbeat, the poem tells of a tragic bombing.  

• When her child asks to participate in the Freedom March, the mother repeatedly tells her, “No, baby, no, you may not go” (line 5 and line 13). The repetition of this line is reminiscent of the chorus of a song; it is simplistic yet represents an underlying theme, in this case the mother’s love. She cares for the safety of her daughter, her rhythmical words soothing. The readers expect her to be able protect the girl because the words lull them into a false sense of security.  

• The girl is forbidden from marching “For the dogs are fierce and wild / And clubs and hoses, guns and jails / Aren’t good for a little child” (lines 6-8). The rhyme scheme and the simple word choice in the mother’s claim that the march is not “good for a little child” generate a feeling of discomfort and unnaturalness. The author describes the atrocities being committed with such a light and matter-of-fact tone that the reader begins to question what is going on.

The irony in the poem establishes the idea that even a safe place can be destroyed by violence and hate.

• The mother tells her daughter, “But you may go to church instead / And sing in the children’s choir” (lines 15-16). By this point, the reader knows that something bad will happen to the child. The mother thinks that by preventing the child from going to the march she will protect her, but the reader knows otherwise.

• The mother is comforted by the knowledge that her daughter is in a “sacred place” (line 22). A church seems untouchable, as if nothing bad can possibly happen there. However, this accepted idea is overturned when the church is bombed. It just does not seem right for something awful to happen in such a place.

Detailed imagery creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind of the little girl, evoking sympathy and shock in response to the bombing.

• The child draws “white gloves on her small brown hands” before going to church (line 19). The white gloves and tiny hands reflect the innocence and vulnerability of the little girl. Randall forces the reader to picture the girl and hopefully form an emotional connection so that the bombing will seem personal and more devastating. 

• Searching the rubble, the mother “clawed through bits of glass and brick / Then lifted out a shoe” (line 29-30). The little white shoe, like the gloves, represents the innocence of the girl. The image of the shoe within the ruins symbolizes the epitome of injustice—an innocent child’s death as a result of fighting.