Page 5 Comparing



Listen here to an audio file, in which someone reads one verse and chorus of "The Circle Game," while clapping the rhythm.    Note the person is exaggerating the rhythm of the song with her voice.  A person would not normally read a poem in such a manner.



Listen  to Joni Mitchell singing "The Circle Game" below.




Read  "Comparisons and Contrasts" on page 34 of ResourceLines 7/8.


Interpret


What are the similarities and differences between "The Circle Game" and "The Song of the Dream People?" Read information in the comparison chart below:

Song Song of the Dream People
The Circle Game
Rhythm and Metre
  • This song does not have a regular metre.
  • The first two lines have two beats, the third has four beats, and the fourth has three.
  • The remainder of the poem has no repeating pattern except for the repetition of the line, "ijaja---a---ijaja-aje". However, this repetition makes a rhythm of its own, as if the old man cries out suddenly in anguish, whenever he thinks of his weakness.
  • This song has a regular metre that creates a steady rhythm.
  • The verses have a pattern of five beats per line.
  • When the song is performed, the effect is similar to a melody that one might hear playing while riding on a merry-go-round.
Rhyme
  • This song has no rhyme.
  • However, this is a translation, and it may have rhymed in the original, and it might have had a more regular rhythm in the original language.
  • This song has a regular rhyme scheme.
  • The rhyme scheme is: a, b, a, b.
  • The chorus's rhyme scheme is a, a, b, b, c, a, c.
Tone
  • The tone is regretful.
  • The narrator seems sad and mournful, remembering his lost youth.
  • He wishes to be lifted "out of the weakness of old age".
  • The tone is accepting.
  • The narrator talks about how we cannot stop time, but the last stanza shows that the narrator thinks this is all right; there will be "new dreams".



  Please contact your teacher if you have questions.