Ballad of Birmingham

Lisa N.
13 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lift out
    take out or up with or as if with a scoop
    She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
    Then lifted out a shoe.
  2. Birmingham
    a city in central England
    Ballad of Birmingham
    Ballad of Birmingham
    By Dudley Randall 1914–2000 Dudley Randall
    (On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

    “Mother dear, may I go downtown
    Instead of out to play,
    And march the streets of Birmingham
    In a Freedom March today?”
  3. clawed
    having or resembling a claw or claws
    She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
    Then lifted out a shoe.
  4. ballad
    a narrative poem of popular origin
    Ballad of Birmingham
    Ballad of Birmingham
    By Dudley Randall 1914–2000 Dudley Randall
    (On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

    “Mother dear, may I go downtown
    Instead of out to play,
    And march the streets of Birmingham
    In a Freedom March today?”
  5. broadside
    with a side facing an object
    Source: Cities Burning (Broadside Press, 1968)

  6. downtown
    the central area or commercial center of a town or city
    Ballad of Birmingham
    Ballad of Birmingham
    By Dudley Randall 1914–2000 Dudley Randall
    (On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

    “Mother dear, may I go downtown
    Instead of out to play,
    And march the streets of Birmingham
    In a Freedom March today?”
  7. come upon
    find unexpectedly
    The mother smiled to know her child
    Was in the sacred place,
    But that smile was the last smile
    To come upon her face.
  8. burn
    destroy by fire
    Dudley Randall, “Ballad of Birmingham” from Cities Burning.
  9. march
    walk fast, with regular or measured steps
    Ballad of Birmingham
    Ballad of Birmingham
    By Dudley Randall 1914–2000 Dudley Randall
    (On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

    “Mother dear, may I go downtown
    Instead of out to play,
    And march the streets of Birmingham
    In a Freedom March today?”
  10. fierce
    marked by extreme and violent energy
    “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.”
  11. estate
    extensive landed property retained by the owner
    Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of Dudley Randall.
  12. sacred
    made, declared, or believed to be holy
    The mother smiled to know her child
    Was in the sacred place,
    But that smile was the last smile
    To come upon her face.
  13. white
    being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness
    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.
Created on Thu Aug 02 11:56:01 EDT 2012

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