Read the stanzas below from the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall and answer the question that follows.

“Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?” “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.” “But, mother, I won’t be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham To make our country free.” “No, baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the children’s choir.”

What is ironic about the mother’s wishes?

The protest will be deadly, while the church will be safe.

-The daughter doesn’t listen to her mother and goes to the protest.

-The daughter has already been to church that morning.

-The church will prove just as dangerous as the protest.

Explanation: An irony is a statement or a situation which seems contradictory or different to what the audience is expecting. In the given stanzas from the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall we can see an example of irony in the mother wishes, because she doesn't want her child to go to the protest, because she thinks it will be dangerous, instead, she says he can go to the church, but the church will be just as dangerous as the protest.