I
have read and analyze two poems which are “Ballad of Birmingham” written by
Dudley Randall and “Africa” written by Maya Angelou. I have made up my mind to
choose the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” and “Africa” because I think these poems
is more interesting compared to the other poems. It is interesting in all
aspects such as themes, tones, setting, and the language used. Furthermore,
these poems are challenging because of the words used and the underlying
meaning of each sentence.
In “Ballad of Birmingham,”
Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march the
streets of Birmingham with the other children and a mother who are trying to
protect her child. The setting of place this poem are the church in Alabama and
the house which the conversation between the mother and the child occurred. In
addition, this poem uses the dialogue between a mother and a child to
illustrate the message of the poem. Throughout the poem, the child is eager to
go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. On the other
hand, the mother is very eager prevent the child from going because it is
dangerous. The themes of this poem is racism and mother love. The racism
happened between African-American in Alabama, which the church is bomb by the American.
The repetition of line “…No baby, no, you may not go…” and “…for I fear those
guns will fire…” shows the feeling of a mother who refused to let her child go
march the streets of Birmingham because she knows that it is very dangerous.
There
are different tones that can be seen in this poem. Firstly, there is a tone of
innocence in the first stanza. The young child tries to act nice and innocent
to her mother so that her mother might let her go to the march. That can be
seen in line “…Mother dear, may I go downtown…”. Secondly, there is the tone of
concern for her child's safety. Her mother tells her that there are dogs, clubs
and hoses in the line “…No baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs are fierce
and wild…” . These things were used on protesters and marchers to control the
crowds when they grew too large and cannot be controlled. Next, there is the
tone of joy in the fifth stanza and in the first half of the sixth stanza. The
line “…the mother smiled to know that her child was in the sacred place…” shows
that she is joyful that her daughter is going to church instead of going to the
march. But, in the seventh stanza that tone of joy immediately turns
to grief and loneliness when she heard the explosion. The line “…her eyes grew
wet and wild..” shows the mother’s sadness of losing her child.
On the other hand, the persona of “Africa” is the author
Maya Angelou. She expresses that Africa is strong black women. She does this
when she writes “…mountains her breast two Niles her tears Thus she has lain
Black through the years”. In addition, Maya
Angelou describes "Africa" being destroyed by Europeans who took the
children of Africa into slavery. It can be seen in line “…took her young
daughters…’. The setting is in Africa as the title of the poem itself is
Africa. The theme is almost the same as the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” which
is racism. Black people are always being discriminate by the white people. This
poem is also portrays the situation of war. The poet uses woman to personified
Africa. For example, a woman “…deserts her hair…” and “…mountains her
breasts…”. Personification and rhythm enhance the tone of this poem.
The tone
of the poem is different from “Ballad of Birmingham” as “Ballad of Birmingham
has different kind of tone which are innocent, concern, joyful and loneliness
while “Africa” has changing tone which from pleasant to unpleasant to
contemplative. The first stanza start with pleasant tone which the poet
describes the Africa as a woman such as in the line “…golden her feet,
mountains her breast, two Niles her tears…”. Later, it changed to unpleasant
tone in second stanza which the poet writes about the woman is suffered. The
line “…bled her with guns…” shows that the woman is suffering. Lastly, in the
third stanza, the tone changed to contemplative the woman is rising and
remember all her misery and history.
One of the issues that can be seen in the poem “Ballad of
Birmingham” is discrimination of black people.
This can be seen when the poet is trying to conveys his message in the
line “…and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands and white shoes on her
feet…”. Other than that, it can be shows in the line “…for when she heard the
explosion her eyes grew wet and wild…”. In that line, we know that the church
which is the sacred place is being bomb by the American white people. Same as the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, one
of the issues highlighted in the poem “Africa” is racism. The racism happens
between white people and black people. That can be seen in the line “… over the
white seas, rime white and cold…”. That symbolizes white people. Racism can
cause destruction to the surrounding and the people around. The people all
around the world should not discriminate people based on the skin colour,
religion and country. All people are same, the creature that is create by the
Almighty God.
There are many literary devices that have been used by
Dudley Randall in the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”. One of the literary devices
used is alliteration. We can see the use of alliteration in several lines such
as “…for I fear those guns will fire…” and “…her eyes grew wet and wild…”.
Other than that, the poet use repetition in his poem. For example, “…no, baby,
no, you may not go…”, “…and bathed rose petal sweet, and drawn white gloves on
her small brown hands, and white shoes on her feet…” and “…but that smile was
the last smile…”. Furthermore, the poet also use assonance in line “…and bathed
rose petal sweet, and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, and white
shoes on her feet…” and consonance in line “…and clubs and hoses, guns and
jails…”. The next is irony in line “…the mother smiled to know that her child
was in the sacred place…”. Last but not least is apostrophe. That can be shown
in line “…O, here’s the shoe my baby wore…”.
In the poem “Africa”, Maya Angelou use repetition in line
“…over the white seas rime white and cold…”, “…remember her pain, remember the
losses, remember her riches…” and “…thus she had lain…”. Other than that, she
use alliteration in line “…sugarcane sweet…”, “…sold her strong sons…” and
“…remember her losses…”. Next, we can see hyperbole in line “…two Niles her
tears...”. In addition, the poet uses symbolism in her poem. The woman in this
poem symbolizes Africa.
In a nutshell, the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” and
“Africa” has their own specialties and message. Those two poems discuss about
the racism that happen in our world. All people in the world are the same. We
should not discriminate other people based on their skin colour, religious and
countries. We are all creatures that are create by the Almighty god.
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