Legends and Stories

 The Forsaken: Duncan Campbell Scott

1. Write a paragraph that discusses the themes of survival and sacrifice in The Forsaken. (6 marks)

    

     Survival and sacrifice are huge and very imposing themes that were placed in this poem. The survival was purely for her son, the survival showed the love that one shows for her/his son or daughter. Survival is a key human emotion before all else, yet love and sacrifice seemed to overcome the primal urge. This mother sacrificed her own flesh and her own comfort for her child. She stayed in the cold, fishing, so that she could bring the child to safety. Her first instinct was to protect her child and keep him from being left in the cold to starve and his bright light to go extinct. She put her child before herself and in the end he abandoned her not realizing the sacrifice that all parents make for their kids, with or without thanks.This was comparing survival and sacrifice wit someone else to put before yourself.

 The Ice-Floes: E.J. Pratt

2. Write a paragraph that explains the harsh irony of The Ice-Floes. (6 marks)

    This poem was one large irony filled poem. Men going out to kill seals for money buy essentials for the winter. The whole day they are gone, 20 000 dead seals on their hands, yet a storm creeps closer without them noticing. By the end of the day the storm is upon them. So with little choice they try to make it back to the boat, to get to shelter to go back to their homes and families. Yet they to are left out in the cold and like the seals, they are killed, frozen solid as well. Together it was all for nothing, going to kill and being killed. It was a war that had a risk, and they perished.

    

 David- Earle Birney

3. Write a paragraph that describes Birney’s technique of foreshadowing in the poem David. (6 marks)

    

    Birney uses foreshadowing to indicate the impending doom at the end of the poem. He describes the climbing they do, and no matter how many incidents almost happen they never do. When you know for certain that something bad will happen is in the second part and the fifth stanza. This describes the danger of climbing, that the pounding of the water and even the darkening of the firs shows a hidden meaning. Using metaphors and allusion to think of the possibilities of what could happen. This poem uses foreshadowing to forewarn the reader of what will happen. It isn't obvious foreshadowing, you really have to pay attention to the words and analyze it. That is what makes poems worth reading. The allusions and the illusions that the words perform, you have to read between the lines.

4.  Embed a video that features information about one of these poets or poems.  (2 marks)

 

Earle Birney's "David"