Question

Both “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “Ballad of Birmingham” give readers a picture of the civil rights movement and its cause, but they do it in very different ways. Use the following table to compare and contrast some elements of the two pieces.

Answer 1

Hello! Welcome to QuestionCove! Can you post the table please? :)

Answer 2

Audience Answer: Answer:

Purpose Answer: Answer:

Tone Answer: Answer:

Theme Answer: Answer:

Genre Answer: Answer:


Will this work?

Answer 3

Yeah, @Shadow

Answer 4

Ok, going down the list, I think the audience for "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is pretty clear; Dr. King directly addresses the letter to "my fellow clergymen". The audience for the poem, "Ballad of Birmingham" is a little more vague. I assume the writer intended for the poem to be read by the people of America. In that case, I would list that as the audience.

Answer 5

In the letter, King's main point is to justify his actions which led him to become imprisoned and also to deliver a call to action to others who might share his views.
In the poem, Dudley Randall describes a recent current event (the bombing of a church in Birmingham), framing it against the political environment at the time in a way that evokes emotion from the readers.

Answer 6

Tone is a little more subjective, so you can be more flexible here. I guess you could describe the tone of King's letter as cordial or instructive. He is very formal, respectful, thoughtful in the words he uses.
For the poem, I think you could say there's a tone of innocence in the first part of the poem, maybe even naivety in the child's hopes of making a difference. This contrasts very sharply with the tragic tone of the latter part of the poem.

Answer 7

I think there are also many themes you could interpret from the two pieces. For King's letter, you may get the impression that people have a responsibility to make the change they wish to see in the world; perhaps, that justice is not always just; and I'm sure there are other overarching ideas you may identify.
For Dudley's poem, why might he have chosen to write the piece the way he did? Maybe to highlight the unfairness of tragedy and loss in the world? To show that nowhere--not even a sacred place--is truly safe anymore? Again, there are many possibilities.

Answer 8

I'm actually not quite sure what is meant by genre. I guess 'letter' and 'poem' would be pretty simple, but maybe that'd be more of the medium than the genre. Maybe nonfiction and historical fiction, for the letter and the poem, respectively?