Now Here's a Truly Beautifully Somber Poem.

Thesis:
Dudley Randall's poem "Ballad of Birmingham" leaves a chilling sensation and lasting impact, in part due to the song-like structure, haunting imagery, and unforgettable irony.

        1. Structure
                 a. "'No, baby, no, you may not go, / For the dogs are fierce and wild, / And clubs and horses, guns and jails / Aren't good for a little child'" (5-8). Randall uses an alternate rhyming pattern to make the depressing piece have a melancholy sing-song quality. The usage of rhyme also helps capture the youth and innocence of the lost child.
                b. The entire poem is divided into four-line stanzas that further add to the lyrical structure of the poem.
    
         2. Imagery
                  a. "She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, / And bathed rose petal sweet, / And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, / And white shoes on her feet" (17-20). The visual imagery incorporated into this stanza helps the reader imagine the innocent little girl, and therefore making the fateful twist at the end all the more painful and heart-wrenching. The visual hints create an attachment felt between the reader and the child.
                  b. "She clawed through bits of glass and brick," (29). The harsh and even slightly savage-like imagery contrasts greatly from the soft and sweet descriptions of the living girl, highlighting the desperation to find the child's angelic face once more. 

        3. Irony
                 a. "The mother smiles to know her child / Was in a sacred place, / But that smile was the last smile / To come upon her face" (21-24). While the mother forbids her daughter to march in a Freedom March in fear of her safety, she is wounded when at church, believed to be the safest place around. The complete opposite occurs of what is expected by the reader and the child's mother.