The Ballad of CrowfootI chose the Ballad of Crowfoot as my narrative song. It was written by Willie Dunn in 1971. It talks about the inhumane treatment of the aboriginals by colonial settlers. I think that the song is a lot more effective now than if it were in paragraph form. With a few lines in a verse, it is easy to focus on each word, instead of in paragraph form when you skip two or three. The repetition of dates could not have been done as effectively if it was a paragraph, and nor could the rhyming. The writing style would also have been different and would have needed more words to tell the story. Although the content of the song is very important, the rhythm and rhyme also tell a story. For this reason, reading and listening to the song have completely different effects. When the Ballad of Crowfoot is sung, a haunting melody and rhythm is used, talking of the horror of the treatment of the First Nations and how sad and broken they are now. The story is written with eight verses, with the last word of each line rhyming with the last word of the next line. This rhyming makes the text easier on the ears, helping us listen better. The Ballad of Crowfoot has many rhetorical devices that, combined with the haunting melody, send the message across very well. A prominent one is that of repetition. The second last line of each verse says a year of Crowfoot’s life, and that verse describes what happens in that year. That method of describing Crowfoot’s life makes it easy to follow along and understand the different stages of his life. Foreshadowing is also used in the poem in two places. The first is when Crowfoot is thinking about the Sioux and the Nez Percé, how broken they are, and how his tribe will soon be the same. The second is when he is about to sign the treaty, and he knows that the settlers will never keep their side of the agreement. Finally, there is the metaphor, the buffalo. For the aboriginals that lived in the plains, they were a huge part of life. The hide could be used to build tipis, the meat to eat and hunting them was a traditional event. When they began to be slaughtered, the Blackfoot began to die. The song ends with a short verse, hoping that someday there will be less hate and more love for the long-suffering First Nations. AuthorThe narrative song of my choice was written by Willie Dunn, a Canadian of Mi’kmaq, Scottish and Irish descent. He was born in Montreal in 1942, and died in Ottawa in 2013. He was a singer, playwright and guitarist with many songs and videos to his name, his two most famous works being the song “Ballad of Crowfoot”, and a NFB movie with the same name. They both talk about the inhumane treatment of aboriginals by white settlers. In 1993, he ran as an NDP for parliament, coming fourth in his riding. MediographyNews, CBC. "Aboriginal Singer, Activist Willie Dunn Dies at 71 - Arts & Entertainment - CBC News." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 09 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
"Willie Dunn." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 July 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. Themes of DavidDavid is a poem written by Earle Birney in 1942. It is about two mountain climbers, Bob and David, and them climbing different mountains in the rockies. They enjoy the challenge of climbing, but one day the challenge proves too much, and David falls. He is caught on a ledge above an enormous fall, but his spine is broken and he is about to die. He asks his climbing partner to push him over, and his friend complies and saves him from hours of incredible pain.
This poem, as many poems do, has themes. The most obvious one is euthanasia. Euthanasia is and has been illegal for awhile, but it is a very controversial subject. Many believe that it should be legal, and David shows one of their arguments. It show that although people around the person suffering want them to stay forever (Bob), the sufferer knows that it will do no good and wants to move on. Interestingly, there is a foreshadowing of David dying, when David himself shows that he is for euthanasia, killing a young bird that had broken it’s wings. A second theme, used more but not as serious as euthanasia is the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Almost the whole poem describes in excellent imagery, metaphors and adjectives, the diversity and beauty of the mountains, from the “frozen ocean of rock” to “a gurgling world of crystal and cold blue chasms” to “the darkening firs”. It talks about the fauna and flora, the water and sky, the peaks and the moon. The poem is so well written that you can get lost in the words and imagine yourself with those two young and daring mountain climbers, bent on seeing the world from a bird’s view. These themes complement each other, one making it an excellently written poem, and the other giving it a more profound meaning. I believe that they are what make David such a success. What Are Your Career Dreams and Aspirations?My name is D. K., and I am 14 years old. I am currently in grade eleven, having skipped both Senior Kindergarten and grade 8. I have gone to my school, Académie de la Capitale, since I was about 4 years old. I live an unusual lifestyle, traveling to a Cree village for a week every month because my parents work as doctors there. I also travel a lot during the summer, having visited over 15 countries in my life. Other things that describe me are that I love playing hockey, reading and exploring technology. I also enjoy learning and doing math.
I believe it is important for me to plan my career development so I can have a direction to go in. Although I should keep many possibilities in mind, it is important to always have dreams and a destination in mind. When I was younger, I was not sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, and that made me feel uncertain. Now that I have an idea, it makes it easier to plan which school classes to take. The career I am aspiring to is a computer engineer. I am not sure which type, but I would like to do something along those lines. I might work on computer or webpage design, working on the code for programs or even the design of more substantial objects, like airplanes. I would work on computers most of the time, coding using programming languages like Java or C++, and maybe also working on computer hardware. Because the work would be on a computer, it would a lot easier to work in different places, so I would still be able to travel. Since I was little, people have always told me that math was one of my strong suits. I also enjoy using technology and learning as much as I can. All of these talents will help me learn more to become a computer engineer, and then enjoy my job. I have already taken a computer programming course, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Enjoying your work is just as if not more important than being good at it, and I think I will be challenged enough to love it. The classes I am taking this semester will help on my way to my dream job. First of all, I have computer programming 12. It is already three years ahead of what people my age are doing, so I have a lot more time to add to the knowledge I will gain this semester. Another course that will help me is Physics, which is important for everyday life, but will also help explain how computers work. In addition to my schoolwork, I always try to explore the different aspects of computers. I try to learn as much as I can, and ask friends of my parents who have that type of job what they do. During one of my summer trips, when I was in California, I visited the Googleplex. This showed a type of environment where I would work, and I really liked the look of it. I will try to continue my career journey, and see where it takes me. |