“The Ballad of Birmingham”
Ballad: a song/poem with a regular rhyme, a strong rhythm, and a refrain. Most ballads have a strong emotional or sentimental quality.
Before Reading
What do you think the subject of this poem will be, based on what you know about ballad as a genre?
Background
- A number of kids were at Sunday school at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The church had a significant Black population. Four young girls were killed: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. The other 22 Black members were injured, but not killed.
- Freedom March: when citizens come together to protest governments’ laws which discriminate against some citizens. During the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the Black people often participated in Freedom Marches.
- Jim Crow Laws: state and national laws which imposed segregation on Black people. They were overtly racist.
YouTube video of period photos:
A YouTube video of the song:
During Reading
- What are some of the most vivid images in this poem? (4)
- Circle the verbs in stanzas five to eight. How does the author’s choice of verbs (diction) enhance the drama? (2)
- What is the irony in this poem? (When there’s a disparity between what you think will happen and what actually happens.) (2)
After Reading
- What is the rhyme scheme? (1)
- What is the metre? (1)
- Repetition—how does the poet’s use of repetition intensify the drama of the poem? (2)
- What rhetorical strategy does the poet use in the first four stanzas? How is this effective for dramatizing the poem? (2)
- The mood of this poem could be one of poignancy (a state of deeply felt distress or sorrow; heart-wrenching). In particular, how does the poet pull at your heart strings? (2)
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