Question

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

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

Answer 1

The answer is A.using an innocent questioner and a wise respondent.

Answer 2

Answer: The right answer is the C) Using an innocent questioner and a wise respondent.

Explanation: It must be stressed that options B and D are wrong, since this ballad uses the verse format (with a abcb rhyme scheme) and its subject matter is definitely not a celebration, but a very tragical event - the death of a child in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Ballads do feature a question-answer format, which helps to build up suspense and maintain the reader's interest and engagement. In this particular example, the innocent questioner is a small child, and the wise respondent is his mom, who attempts, to no avail, to dissuade him from attending the Freedom March.