The poem is about a young girl who wants to go to the black civil rights marches. Her mother said no and told her to go to church instead. The daughter went to the church, and then the mother heard an explosion. The mother raced to the church and found her daughters shoe but not her daughter.
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair – getting ready for church
Mother Dear, small brown hands, no baby, sing in the children’s choir is a list of things that make the girl appear sweet, young and innocent in the text.
What is the effect of having two different methods of narration?
We learn about the sweet, kind family and the mother talking (dialogue) makes it more emotional because it is coming straight from the daughter to the mother. The stanza 5, 6, 7 are about the young girl getting ready for church and about the mother finding out about the bomb and her not being able to find her daughter. The last stanza switches halfway through from third person to dialogue. The author does this so the mother is talking about her little girl and to make the reader feel the real sadness that the mother is feeling.
What effects do the following techniques bring to the poem – assonance, alliteration, metaphorThe author used alliteration and metaphors throughout the poem. He uses alliteration to repeat words and emphasise those words in the reader and listeners mind – (for I fear those guns will fire). Dudley Randall also uses metaphors. He uses metaphors to help put an image in the reader and listeners head of the scene/feeling that he is explaining – (she clawed through bits of glass).