Peter Roker
Mr. Cohen
ENG2D
May 3 2022 Target: Consider the importance of rhyming
What is the main message of Chief Laforme’s poem ‘I Love this Land’?
‘I love this land’ by Chief Laforme is a poem written from the perspective of a First Nations soldier. Laforme’s poem talks about the price that was not paid to his people, First Nations people, for being sent off to fight in WWI. “Oh, we still stood shoulder to shoulder in the parades, but the government thought that your life was more valuable than mine’’ (I love this land). They were not treated as fairly as others that were not their ethnic group. A simile is used in this poem to convey a message of equality and inequality. “My blood flowed as freely as yours, mixed in the field’s one could not be distinguished from the other”, (I love this land). This quote gives a perspective of the difference between how a First Nations soldier was treated during war and after. When Indigenous soldiers fought together with other soldiers they were equal with all the other soldiers, however, after fighting and returning the difference in treatment was visible. So, all in all ‘I love this land’ is written from the viewpoint of an Indigenous soldier.
Work Cited
Laforme, Chief. I Love This Land. Toronto, THE WORLD REMEMBERS, n.d. https://www.cbc.ca/radio-content/assets/images/TSE-ChiefStacey-ILoveThisLand-eng.jpeg.
Why I added this assessment as one of my favourites
This assignment was really straight forward for me. With this I enjoyed seeing the perspective of an Indigenous soldier. I have always seen the viewpoints of white soldiers, but never an indigenous soldier. That is what got me fascinated about this assessment Once I enjoyed reading the poem it was easy for me to form a thesis, support it well, and also analyze the simile of I Love This Land. I am most proud of my analysis of the simile in this assesment.