The Circle Game

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

• What is the significance of the title?
• Summarize the main idea of the poem.
• What is the prevalent image in the poem?
• Identify and discuss the poet’s use of two effective words.
• Identify and discuss two examples of figurative language in the poem.
• What two aspects of the poem may be confusing?
• Indicate which Essential Question might relate best to this poem, and provide a brief rationale. (Essential questions: 1. To what degree can an individual’s choices and actions influence the direction of his or her life?, 2. Why is it important to be responsible to others on a personal, local, global, and digital level?, 3. What does it mean to be successful and what role does failure play?, 4. How does an individual’s perspective of, and response to, a crisis define him or her?