Canada A Vast and Varied Land
Canada: A Vast and Varied Land
Connection to Literature Assignment
By
Nimisha Stephen
English Language Arts A30AP
Mrs. M. Moen
February 25, 2015
What it means to be a Canadian is an important part of our life. Canada is often portrayed as a mosaic picture made out of different shapes and colors. For me, it means your identity, your country and most importantly, what being a Canadian truly means. For others, being Canadian means just a big country with a lot of farmland and peacemakers. However, in the poems “Canada: Case History” by Earle Birney, “Where I come from” by Elizabeth Brewster and “Who, then, is a Canadian?” by Suwanda Sugunasiri, their respective poets expresses his or her individual opinion on what it means to be a Canadian.
In the poem “Canada: Case History” by Earle Birney, the poet expresses his ideology about Canada and her relationship with other countries. The author describes Canada as a “case of a highschool land/ deadest in adolescence”(lines 1 and 2). The poet uses personification when labelling Canada: “This boy is oriented well to sports”(line 5). Canada is regarded being not matured enough, and therefore is too young. ‘He’ makes “new coins old slogans [and] jets” suggesting that the country has to seek help and copy what other countries do. Canada's "Uncle" is the United States, a nation that “spoils” the adolescent by giving him “candy”. However, at the same time, Uncle America also “shouts him [Canada] down when he talks at table”. His relatives are interested in the lands of Canada since ‘his’ parents are separated: “relatives keen to bag the estate”(line 21). Canada's parents are Britain and France that are “unmarried [and] living apart”. We know from the history of the Canada that France and Britain had their struggles in having creating Canada; the poet portrays their conflict by depicting this situation as a family problem. Canada dreams of becoming diverse and “different”; “He… daydreams of winning the global
Connection to Literature Assignment
By
Nimisha Stephen
English Language Arts A30AP
Mrs. M. Moen
February 25, 2015
What it means to be a Canadian is an important part of our life. Canada is often portrayed as a mosaic picture made out of different shapes and colors. For me, it means your identity, your country and most importantly, what being a Canadian truly means. For others, being Canadian means just a big country with a lot of farmland and peacemakers. However, in the poems “Canada: Case History” by Earle Birney, “Where I come from” by Elizabeth Brewster and “Who, then, is a Canadian?” by Suwanda Sugunasiri, their respective poets expresses his or her individual opinion on what it means to be a Canadian.
In the poem “Canada: Case History” by Earle Birney, the poet expresses his ideology about Canada and her relationship with other countries. The author describes Canada as a “case of a highschool land/ deadest in adolescence”(lines 1 and 2). The poet uses personification when labelling Canada: “This boy is oriented well to sports”(line 5). Canada is regarded being not matured enough, and therefore is too young. ‘He’ makes “new coins old slogans [and] jets” suggesting that the country has to seek help and copy what other countries do. Canada's "Uncle" is the United States, a nation that “spoils” the adolescent by giving him “candy”. However, at the same time, Uncle America also “shouts him [Canada] down when he talks at table”. His relatives are interested in the lands of Canada since ‘his’ parents are separated: “relatives keen to bag the estate”(line 21). Canada's parents are Britain and France that are “unmarried [and] living apart”. We know from the history of the Canada that France and Britain had their struggles in having creating Canada; the poet portrays their conflict by depicting this situation as a family problem. Canada dreams of becoming diverse and “different”; “He… daydreams of winning the global