Poetry is often inspired by the events and context of the times in which it is created. During the 1900s, racism was extremely prevalent and inspired various authors to craft their works around the scenarios experienced by people of color. Racism takes many forms and changes the lives of those involved in it. These poems are used to highlight the damage caused and impact of racism. Poems based on racism are often told in ballad form and can be extremely detailed due to the use of literary elements. The poems “Incident” by Countee Cullen and “The Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall illustrate a common theme of racism, while using form and imagery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The theme of racism is very clear in both ballads. Although the situations depicted are quite different, they both accurately depict the lives of people of color. Cullen's short but intense poem recounts the memory of a black boy, then eight years old, being called a "nigger" directly to his face (Cullen line 8). Rather than having happy memories of his visit to Baltimore, the narrator distinctly remembers this single incident for the rest of his life. As an adult, the narrator can still easily remember the details of this event. This poem not only shows what racism looked like during this time, but also highlights the mental and emotional impacts that racism has on those affected. “The Ballad of Birmingham” also shows how intense racism was, but from a different perspective. Randall's poem highlights the violent aspects of racism by illustrating the bombing of a church full of people in Alabama (Randall line 25). This poem is based on a real, racially motivated event, amplifying the message it sends. Young children were targeted because of their color and still are today. Dudley uses this poem as an opportunity to remember the young girls murdered that day, but also as an opportunity to describe the reality of racism. Racism affects people in all aspects and poetry allows us to describe these life-changing moments in history many years after the fact. The form of a poem is important to the message it wants to convey. Poetic forms can have different shapes, structures, rhythms, rhymes and durations. Authors decide what type of poem they think will effectively convey what they are trying to describe. Ballads are a form of ancient poetry, frequently used to tell a specific moment, often a tragic story. Both Cullen and Dudley wrote their poems in ballad form and followed the traditional poetic style of an ABCB rhyme pattern. In the last stanza of “Incident,” the narrator expresses how he saw the entire city during the months “May to December,” but this single event is all he remembers (Cullen lines 9-12). The words “December” and “remember” were combined, showing that despite the longevity of the trip, this short incident is what impacts it the most. The most valuable aspects of the poem intentionally rhyme together, and the less important ones do not. This focuses the reader's attention on the author's intended words. “The Ballad of Birmingham” also rhymes in this same ABCB pattern. In the seventh stanza, lines 26 and 28 say: “His eyes became wet and wild. / Calling his child” (Dudley). These two lines rhyme together and specifically describe a mother's tragedy.