ENG1D Name: ______Miss McBride Date: ______Burden of the Angel/Beast

By Bruce Cockburn

From the lying mirror to the movement of stars Everybody's looking for who they are Those who know don't have the words to tell And the ones with the words don't know too well

Chorus:

Could be the famine Could be the feast Could be the pusher Could be the priest Always ourselves we love the least That's the burden of the angel/beast

Birds of paradise -- birds of prey Here tomorrow, gone today Cross my forehead, cross my palm Don't cross me or I'll do you harm

[Chorus]

We go crying, we come laughing Never understand the time we're passing Kill for money, die for love Whatever was God thinking of?

Questions for further thought

1. Cite and explain at least two poetic devices used in the lyrics of “Burden of the Angel/Beast” (e.g. rhyme, repetition, etc.).

2. Identify at least two examples of metaphors that are used in the lyrics of the song. ENG1D Name: ______Miss McBride Date: ______

3. In the chorus, two opposites are juxtaposed (famine/feast and pusher/priest). What does the songwriter intend to demonstrate through this comparison?

4. Juxtaposition occurs again in the lines, “Cross my forehead, cross my palm/Don’t cross me or I’ll do you harm”. What two sentiments are being compared here? (Think of the significance of someone crossing their forehead/palm).

5. Background: At the philosophic core of "Dart to the Heart" (the album to which this song belongs) is a song about how humans tend to operate like animals in their worst moments, then show godly potential in their best. Cockburn calls it "Burden of the Angel/Beast," and says he isn't sure himself whether the angelic or the beastly occupies the greater part of human nature.] "Today, I tend to think it's the latter, but it varies from day to day. It depends on the mood and what you've just encountered. I think we're just stuck with who we are, and [human nature] is always going to have both sides. I don't think we're redeemable in that sense. "I think we are redeemed spiritually but in terms of our earthly existence, [that beastly potential] is always there, no matter how much you try to let yourself do good. We are the weird animals we are, and we seem to be straddling this gap with one foot in the animal world entirely and the other foot in something we've never been ENG1D Name: ______Miss McBride Date: ______able to entirely define for ourselves." - from "Bruce Cockburn: Interior Motive" by Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1994.

Which depiction of human beings (angel or beast) do you think is more accurate?