SPOTTTs Poetry
A young girl asks her mother for permission to attend a freedom march in downtown Birmingham with her friends. Her mother, fearing violence, refuses to let her go and suggests that the child go to church instead. After she leaves, the mother is relieved that the child is in a safe place; then, she hears the bomb explode and rushes out to make sure her child is ok. She goes to the site of the church, which is now a pile of broken glass and bricks, and searches through the debris. She isn’t able to find her child, but she does find her little girl’s shoe.
When does climax occur? What event do we infer from the last stanza? What city/state is the location for the poem? What are the two actual places where action occurs?
Mother Caring Knowledgeable Naive Daughter Reverent Obedient Innocent
Inscription Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Four young black girls Hist. ballads are still fiction, Children’s march
Examine Situational Irony Theme for this poem- No place is safe from racial hatred if a society does not provide equal protection and punishment under the law. Symbolism of Innocence: “rose-petal sweet” wearing white gloves + shoes.
Each stanza a quatrain Has rhyme pattern 2nd and 4th lines rhyme is metered (has rhythm pattern) though not same in all stanzas