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English
10th
grade
The Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall Poetry, 1965
8 questions
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- 1. Multiple Choice
Which lines from the poem best demonstrates the tension?
“But, mother, I won’t be alone."
"She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe. "
"But that smile was the last smile"
"And sing in the children’s choir.”
- 2. Multiple Choice
How does the rhyme impact the poem?
Sample Stanza:
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?
The mother is cautious in letting her daughter go downtown and the child wants to march but the rhyme does not show eagerness as much as light-heartedness.
It shows that amid a difficult event joy can be experienced
The rhyme presents a lilting, singsong feel of a nursery rhyme contrasting with the heavy topic of a church bombing.
- 3. Multiple Choice
What line from the poem best supports the central idea that the mother believes her daughter will be safe in a place of worship?
“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,"
“I fear those guns will fire. / But you may go to church instead,”
"And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren’t good for a little child.”
"And sing in the children’s choir.”
- 4. Multiple Choice
What is ironic about the mother’s decision to send her child to sing in the church choir instead of to march on the streets?
The mother doesn't believe in actvisim
The mother believes protesting is not suitable for a child
The mother believes her daughter will be safer singing in the choir than protesting in the streets.
The mother believes children should never be alone
- 5. Multiple Choice
Ballads have:
a story, dialogue, simple language, four line stanzas, a tragic event
Fourteen lines, are about love, iambic pentameter
- 6. Multiple Choice
The dialouge is between:
Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks
A father and son
A mother and daughter
An aunt and an uncle
- 7. Multiple Choice
What type of irony does the poem fall under?
Dramatic Irony
Verbal Irony
Situational Irony
None
- 8. Multiple Choice
Why might the poet have included this irony?
The poet might have included this element because it creates a greater sense of tragedy, or expresses the idea that no place is truly safe for black Americans during this time
The poet was trying to challenge himself because using irony is difficult.
Ironically, the poet didn't know he was using irony.
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