- What stages of life does this song include?
- What kinds of circles does Mitchell talk about for each of the life stages?
- What is the meaning of the lines, "And they tell him, Take your time it won't be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down"?
- In your opinion, is the use of the carousel to represent the circle of life an effective symbol? Why or why not?
- Which of the characters from Tuck Everlasting could bes relate to this song? Why? Why might other characters find it hard to relate to this song?
Extra Credit! In "The Circle Game," the young man in the last verse is twenty years old. Add additional verses about what the man discovers as he ages. You may wish to write about the experiences he has had by the agse thirty, sixty, and eighty, or any other ages you choose. Be sure to repeat the chorus throughout the verses you create.
The Circle Game
ReplyDeleteby Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you're older must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game *
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Here is a link if you'd like to listen to the song!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR2vGJSX0xo
Hey Eveybody !
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I really liked the song and surprisingly it totally connected to the story of Tuck Everlasting.
1. This song includes three stages of life, Childhood, Teenage and adulthood.
2. During childhood, a child is just starting to explore the outer world, They get frightened by thunders and tearful at the falling of a star. Their life goes round and round in a circle game. Eventually the cartwheels turn to car wheels within some summers gone by. Suddenly they go up and down through many hardships, they cant return butcan only look behing from where they came. As they enter the adulthood, they get in a race to make their wishes come true before the last revolving year is through. They go on and on in life as the seasons go by.
3. The lines "And they tell him, Take your time it won't be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down. It means that when you grow up you tell children to take their time in life and dont rush through it, because there is going to be a point in life where you will be dragigng you feet to slow down carousel of life and try to live each and every moment of it.
4. I think the carousel is a perfect example to represent the circle of life as both of them go through so many ups and downs. Like a carousel, life also goes on and on.
5. I think Winnie is probably the best character who relates to this song, because as the other characters, she is not imortal. So, she goes through alot in life. The other characters in the book like the Tucks, cant really relate to this song because they are imortal.So they never grow old to experience the different stages of life.
Thanks for reading !
Extra Credit !
ReplyDeleteAs the time goes by the man is now 80
With his feet he tries to slow the circle down
As he looks back remembering joy and plenty
Before the time left over is gone by.
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Hello Ms Gelso and fellow classmates
ReplyDelete1. The stages of life the boy passes through in this song are four. In the beginning, he is a little boy, probably somewhere at four or five years because he is afraid of the thunder and wanders around. Then he is ten years older, because of the line “then, the child moved ten times 'round the seasons.” After that, he is sixteen years old and from the cartwheels he ends up with a car. Finally, he is twenty and he has new dreams and hopes.
2. I believe that Joni Mitchell talks about the circles of the seasons. How each one follows the other and never stops. Also, each circle means one more year of life.
3. In these lines, Joni Mitchell refers to the teenagers. He wants them to live their lives and have fun while they can, since while they get older they will want to slow down the circle and not age.
4. I think that the carousel is a really good example to represent the circle of life. I agree because each horse of the carousel makes circles around an axis. If we suppose that the horse is a person, the axis is life and each turn is a year, then everything makes perfect sense. It's like the horse ages while it makes a circle around the carousel.
5. I believe that the characters related to the song “The Circle Game” are Winnie, her family and generally everyone. This is because they go around life and they age. The ones that could not be related to this song are the Tucks, because it's like the wheel of life has stopped for them. The carousel is broken and they don't age anymore. The horses cannot move forward.
Extra credit:
And now the boy is not a boy anymore
Ten winters made him want nothing more
With his family he goes around the wheel
And his dreams are now fulfilled and real
And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Hello Ms Gelso and fellow classmates,
ReplyDeleteThis song includes three stages of life, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. First of all the circles express different stages of life, the circles represent every year passing and different dreams and possibilities, coming and going around.
The meaning of the lines, "Take your time, it wont be long now/ Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down," mean: don't rush to grow up, because when you are older, you will wish to make the time pass slower.
Yes, the carousel is an effective symbol for three reasons: the movement of the horses (up and down) can express happy moments (up) and sad moments (down). Also, the carousel ride starts at one point, (when the person is born) then as it turns it symbolizes life, and it stops at a certain point (Death).
The third reason why the carousel effectively symbolizes the cycle of life is the direction it goes in, which is that in life you only go in one direction and you cant go back to the past.
Winnie would relate to this song, because she really wants to grow up and get away from her oppressive mother and granny.
The Tuck family can't relate to this song since they will never grow older and their lives won't end.
Extra Credit:
"Five decades later the man is now seventy,
Looking back on his spring, wishing he could be a child again
Looking back on his summer, wishing he could be an adolescent again
Looking back on his autumn, wishing he could have changed some decisions...
Now that he is in his winter
And the seasons won't go round and round again
And the painted ponies won't go up and down again
He won't return or look behind
Because in this carousel, you only have one ride."
Here is the song... The questions are due by Wednesday, I'll accept bonuses through Friday!
ReplyDeleteI really recommend watching this video, too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR2vGJSX0xo
The Circle Game
by Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you're older must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game *
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
1)The child in this song does through many stages of life. The main stages the child goes through are infancy, adolesence, adulthood, and old age.
ReplyDelete2)In my oppinion the singer talks about the seasons cycle and the life cycle
3)The following lines state that you shouldn't want to grow up quickly because once you will grow up you will want to go back to childhood."And they tell him, Take your time it won't be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down"
4)The carousel is a very good symbol to represent life. This is because as we now the carousel goes in a circle and stops at the ending of the ride then it begins again this would represent the ending of a life and the beggining of another one. The carousel has various animals or cars planes.. this go up and down like life happy moments and sad moments
5) The best character would be Winnie who wants to grow to go to other places outside the fence. The opposite would be the Tucks because as we discussed in class they are out of the life cycle or circle.
1) The song the circle game talks about three stages of life that are childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
ReplyDelete2) I think she mention s the circles the seasons do, to represent time going by, then she also mentions a carousels with horses and that means that life has always ups and downs.
3)I think those two lines mean that you should live your life to fullest while you are a little kid since life will get harder and harder as you grow up, it also means that everything gets there at a certain stage of life.
4)I think that the fact she used a carousel to describe life is very effective because life is not a straight line it has it good moments and its bad moments so the carousel goes in circles but it also goes up and down so it has a deeper meaning.
5)In my opinion Winnie is the best character that relates to the song since she is the only one that will have the opportunity to o through all of the stages while the Tuck family already did them but also Jesse could be related to the song in a way since he reached adulthood and stopped growing just like the song it stopped around the age of twenty but the best character that would best interpretate the song is Winnie
this song includes the changes from the beginnign of child hood that slowly bocomes teeage and that gradually becomes an adult.
ReplyDeletethe singer compares and uses two very good examples to rpresent the circle of life!
1) the season cycle and how it changes during all the normal steps of he years. We can connect it to the tucks that will more or less love the same things in their lives, and the circle of the seasos will never really change and will remain as it is.
2) the circle of life and how people grow and live their lives passing through different stages and important steps.
in the lines used by the writer, he pratically wants to describe how a teenager wants to live forever like peter pan and dreams bout living and being everlasting.. But it even proclaims that there in no way that someone ca really live an infinite life!
In my opinion the example of the carouse is a very good one. It catches tha poit and represents the ups so good things and downs so bad things of life.
Winny is obviously the perfect character that we can relate to this song. She will grow and become older affronting all the different and sometimes difficult steps of life! The Tucks can't be compared to this song because theyare everlasting.
Hello!
ReplyDelete1)What stages of life does this song include?
Reading The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell, there are four main stages of life:
-Infancy or childhood
-Adolescence
-Adulthood
-Old age
2)What kinds of circles does Mitchell talk about for each of the life stages?
The author talks about many diffrent circles of life and many diffrent stages every individual has to take before it's end. For example the "Circle Game" were he explains that "we can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came, and go round and round and round"
3)What is the meaning of the lines, "And they tell him, Take your time it won't be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down"? In my opinion it's a wonderful statment where the author tries to tell us that being children is a gift and that wanting to grow erlier is stupid, because once you reached a sertain age, you will not be able to return back.
4)In your opinion, is the use of the carousel to represent the circle of life an effective symbol? Why or why not? I personally think that the use of carousel to personificate the diffrent cycles of life is brilliant, because it represents a wheel that turnes and moves in various directions like life that has many high and lows, but especially it is ideal for this song because it represents it in a perfect way
Which of the characters from Tuck Everlasting could best relate to this song? Why? Why might other characters find it hard to relate to this song?
Tuck is the person that introduces the wheel various times in the book "Tuck Everlasting". He thinks that life turns like a wheel, but he is condammend to a boring and everlasting life. In a way he regrets Winnies fun and ending life, as if living forever were a punishment or an everlasting hourglass where time does not have importance and value
When I read the story, I was suprised because it connects to Tuck Everlasting.
ReplyDelete1. In this song, you can find three stages that are: life, Childhood, Teenage and adulthood.
2. I think the singer talks about the the season and life cycle.
3. The lines "And they tell him, Take your time it won't be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down. It means that when you grow up you you can't do what a child can do and you have t6o be more responsable and once you grow up, you want to go back to when you were a child because you don't like being an adult.
4. I think the carousel is a perfect example to represent the circle of life because the carousel goes on and on, it stops at the end of the ride and starts again, it means that a life started and another one finished.
5. I think Winnie is the best character who relates to this song, because as the other characters, she is not immortal and can't live forever. The Tucks, cant relate to this song because they are immortal and live forever. So they never grow old to experience what you can do in life and the different stages of life.