Lyrics and Poetry- The Birmingham Church Bombing

What is it called when there is a difference between what one expects to happen and what actually happens?

A. metaphor
B. symbolism
C. personification
D. irony

D.

Read the line below from the poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña and answer the question that follows.

At an old Baptist church there was no need to run.

Which literary technique does this line use?

A. metaphor
B. personification
C. irony
D. simile

C.

Read the line below from the poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña and answer the question that follows.

That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun,

Which literary technique does this line use?

A. metaphor
B. imagery
C. simile
D. personification

B.

Read the line below from the poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña and answer the question that follows.

On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine,

Which literary technique do the bolded words use?

A. imagery
B. metaphor
C. prosody
D. irony

A.

Which rhyme scheme is used in this excerpt from "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall?

"Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"
"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren’t good for a little child."
"But, mother, I won’t be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free.

"Mother dear, may I go downtown

Instead of out to play,

And march the streets of Birmingham

In a Freedom March today?"

A. ABCB
B. ABBC
C. AABB
D. ABCA

A.

What is the major irony in the poem "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall?

A. The mother is afraid her daughter will get hurt marching in a protest, but her daughter gets hurt going to church instead.

B. The mother realizes that going to church may be as dangerous as going to a protest, so she doesn’t let her daughter leave.

C. The mother is upset that her daughter deliberately defies her wishes to participate in the Freedom March.

D. The daughter could have missed church because the alarm clock wasn’t working that morning.

A.

Which ballad convention does Dudley Randall use in "Ballad of Birmingham"?

A. using an innocent questioner and a wise respondent
B. using a celebration to emphasize values
C. using a song to discuss fate
D. using prose instead of verse format

A.

Which of the following is expressed by both "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña and "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall?

A. the cowardly act of bombing a place of worship
B. the security of a mother sending her child to Sunday school
C. the irony of violence in a place of worship
D. the injustice of being judged by one’s race

C.

Read the stanza below from the poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña and answer the question that follows.

The clouds they were grey and the autumn winds blew,
And Denise McNair brought the number to two.
The falcon of death was a creature they knew,
And the choirs kept singing of Freedom,

Which type of figurative language does the bolded part of the stanza use? (The Falcon of Death)

A. simile
B. personification
C. imagery
D. metaphor

NOT B. MAY BE D.

How does the focus of the poem "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard Fariña differ from the focus of the poem "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall?

A. "Ballad of Birmingham" discusses the deaths of all four girls, while "Birmingham Sunday" focuses on the death of one girl.
B. "Birmingham Sunday" discusses the deaths of all four girls, while "Ballad of Birmingham" focuses on the death of one girl.
C. In "Birmingham Sunday" the mother fears that church may not be safe, while in "Ballad of Birmingham" the child fears the freedom protest.
D. In "Birmingham Sunday" the child fears that church may not be safe, while in "Ballad of Birmingham" the mother fears the freedom protest.

B.

Read the stanza below from the poem "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall and answer the question that follows.

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.

Which literary technique does the stanza demonstrate?

A. metaphor
B. personification
C. sensory imagery
D. simile

C.

The structure of "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall is described best as __________.

A. a sonnet
B. an elegiac broadside
C. a broadside ballad
D. free verse

B.

What is an elegiac broadside?

A. a large sheet of paper sold on the streets
B. an elegant poem put to music
C. a mournful, plaintive ballad
D. a sensational disaster

C.

Read the stanzas below from the poem "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall and answer the question that follows.

"Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"

"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren’t good for a little child."

"But, mother, I won’t be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free."

"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children’s choir."

What is ironic about the mother’s wishes?

A. The protest will be deadly, while the church will be safe.
B. The daughter doesn’t listen to her mother and goes to the protest.
C. The daughter has already been to church that morning.
D. The church will prove just as dangerous as the protest.

D.