Aurthor
Set in the backdrop of the freedom marches that used to recur in Birmingham, Alabama, against racial segregation, the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” is a simple and direct account of the 1963 bombing at 16th street baptist church that killed 4 young girls and injured many others (history, 2016). Instead of seeking the support of refined poetic words to make this portrayal exquisite, Dudley Randall had opted simplicity over complexity to reach out to as many readers as possible. Using the rhythmic flow of a ballad (generally referred to as Ballad meter) the poet has made the poem worthy of being recalled perpetually in the reader’s mind. This is where the success of this poem lies too.
Synopsis
The poem begins with the conversation that a little girl has with her mother about participating in a freedom march. The background of the freedom march is not exactly clear at this point except for the reference to Birmingham. The little girl is a bit adamant about fighting “to make our (meaning mother and the child’s) country free”. And therefore, she aspires to go downtown and march the streets of Birmingham (Randall, 1968). But quite obviously, the mother is against her child’s notions. She reiterates that the freedom marches are not the place for a little girl. And the clubs, hoses, and guns that the people use against protesters cannot be shielded by a little girl. The mother would rather have her child go to the town church where its sanctity will offer peace and security.
Without making further domestic protests, the little girl dresses in her bests with white shoes on her feet and white gloves over her little brown hands and takes off to the church. The mother is seen smiling at this point. She is glad to know that her child is in a safe place. But without warning, the mother is taken aback by the voice of an explosion. And as she ran through the streets of Birmingham she observed that the church where her little girl had just gone has been destroyed. Within the rubbles and burned mortar, the mother could see a little white shoe that her child had worn to the church. Even though she could not find her child anywhere, the inevitable answer lingers in the air. Her baby was dead.
Analysis
The poem consists of two speakers, a mother and a child, in addition to an unknown voice that appears later to recount the events of Birmingham bombing in the third person. It is essentially a simple ballad that strictly adheres to a specific (ABCB) rhyming pattern. It can be observed that, quite withstanding the concept of a ballad, the poem adheres to this pattern throughout without fail (“Ballad of Birmingham Analysis,” 2016). The narrative style, where the poet uses two voices (of an innocent and a wiser person) to recount this story, has also been well used by many ballads before (Sullivan, 1997)The basic reason, as outlined by many scholars, for the poet to choose this simple pattern, was to reach as many readers as possible and even to be later transformed into music.
It is generally considered that the reference to Birmingham, which was famous for freedom marches, protests and the bombing, is the core theme of the poem. But after careful introspection, it appears as though this is not entirely true. The poem does not give too much information on the identity of any of these speakers. The poet is also not keen on explaining this tragedy with sympathetic or even gory details. So it appears that the poet’s intention was to allure us into a far more subtle issue. With the slight introduction that explains the place the little girl was wishing to go, the poet is giving us a hint that the poem is not taking place in a serene setting. The intensity of these protests is referenced by showing how much even a little girl was willing to participate in them. This shows the depth of injustice that was progressing in the little girl’s hometown. The poet is raising a question against the white supremacists without leading us directly to it.
And then, the poet shows us the color of the little girl’s skin when she puts on the white gloves on her “small brown hands”. The poet is forcing us to invoke our knowledge of racial segregation and tension prevailing in America by these subtle references to “protests” and “brown hands”. He is forcing us to think of this issue even before he takes us directly to Birmingham bombing. A reader, no matter which ethnicity or race he/she may hail from, will understand the background of these protests by this subtle hint to the little girl’s color. Because not even once had the poet described the reason for these protests. But even the most ill informed outsider wouldn’t find this issue elusive. All because of the mention of the little girl’s color. This despicable concept, that a color should be associated with protests and perpetual cry for freedom, is the major theme of this poem. The Birmingham bombing simply becomes the backdrop of the poet’s take on racial segregation. Because this was the day where the pointlessness of the white supremacist’s hatred towards their black neighbors became clear, especially when they levelled that church, and with all the people still inside.
References
Ballad of Birmingham Analysis. (2016). Retrieved June 17, 2016, from http://www.shmoop.com/ballad-of-birmingham/analysis.html
history. (2016). Birmingham Church Bombing - Black History - HISTORY.com. Retrieved June 18, 2016, from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/birmingham-church-bombing
Randall, D. (1968). Ballad of Birmingham. Retrieved June 17, 2016, from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/46562
Sullivan, J. (1997). On “Ballad of Birmingham.” Retrieved June 18, 2016, from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/ballad.htm
