ENG1P – Poetry
Miss McBride
Name: ________________
Date: _________________
“Wheat Kings” by The Tragically Hip
Sundown in the Paris of the prairies
Wheat kings have all their treasures buried
And all you hear are the rusty breezes
Pushing around the weather vane Jesus
In his Zippo lighter, he sees the killer's face
Maybe it's someone standing in a killer's place
Twenty years for nothing, well that's nothing new, besides,
No one's interested in something you didn't do
Wheat kings and pretty things,
Let's just see what the morning brings.
There's a dream he dreams where the high school is dead and stark
It's a museum and we're all locked up in it after dark
Where the walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister
Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers
Wheat Kings and pretty things,
wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Late-breaking story on the CBC,
A nation whispers, "We always knew that he'd go free,"
They add, "You can't be fond of living in the past,
‘cause if you are then there's no way that you're gonna last".
Wheat Kings and pretty things
Let's just see what tomorrow brings
Wheat kings and pretty things,
That's what tomorrow brings.
ENG1P – Poetry
Miss McBride
Name: ________________
Date: _________________
Poem Analysis
1. Identify the rhyme scheme of the following lines by writing the appropriate letters (A, B,
etc.) beside each line. (2)
There's a dream he dreams where the high school is dead and stark
____
It's a museum and we're all locked up in it after dark
____
Where the walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister
____
Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers
____
Wheat Kings and pretty things,
____
wait and see what tomorrow brings.
____
2. a) How do you picture the prairies of Canada? (2)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
b) How does this song describe this region? (2)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Find and cite an example of imagery in these song lyrics. (2)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Explain the effect of that this imagery has on the listener. (2)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
ENG1P – Poetry
Miss McBride
References in “Wheat Kings”
As you'll read below, "Wheat Kings" tells
the story of David Milgaard, a young
Winnipeg-born hippie wrongly convicted of
the grisly rape and murder of Saskatchewan
nurse Gail Miller.
Long before this incident, during the period
of Western Canadian settlement that
spanned 1896 to 1914, western
immigration agents began flaunting the
merits of their soon to be settled towns. As
each agent was paid only on the percentage
of settlers he could attract, stretching the
truth became a common trick of the trade.
Winnipeg, which at the turn of the 20th
century was a dusty railway stop, was first
to be called the "Paris of the Prairies,"
Calgary also billed itself as such later on.
One pamphlet for Saskatoon, the town
where the Milgaard saga unfolded, read:
"The fastest growing city in the world, an
astounding modern miracle. The eight
wonder of the British Empire, it is the
largest city in the world for it's age. The
greatest example of town and city building
in the worlds history."
"...Wheat Kings have all their treasures
buried."
Atlantic Canada was built on endless fish
stocks coupled with skilled and fearless
maritime labourers. Central Canada was
developed by the fur traders and couriers
du bois. And in the Canadian West, the
"breadbasket to the world," wheat was
certainly king. Western Canada's wheat
farmers and grain growers were known as
Wheat Kings after the development
of Marquis Wheat. This strain was
specifically designed and engineered at the
Canadian Experimental Farm in Ottawa. It
grew in accordance with the shorter
Name: ________________
Date: _________________
Canadian harvesting season. Without this
development, it is questionable whether
the West would have grown as fast, or at
all. "Marquis" is French and refers to
nobility or royalty.
"...Twenty years for nothing, well that's
nothing new
Besides, no one's interested in something
you didn't do."
The Milgaard story is unfortunately one in a
too-long list of wrongful convictions in
Canada. Guy Paul Morin, Donald Marshall
and Stephen Truscott have been through
what Milgaard experienced. However none
were so young at the time of their
conviction, or lost so much of their lives, as
David Milgaard. It may be a testament to
the advocacy, appeal and investigative zeal
of Canadian lawyers and legal professionals
that so many high profile cases have been
successfully overturned. Yet it may also
point to a dark and shameful blight on the
record of Canadian crime and punishment.
In January of 1969, Milgaard and two
friends took a road trip to Saskatoon. On
the same night that the trio intended to
briefly visit their friend Albert Cadrain, Gail
Miller was attacked and killed in a
downtown alley. Such a crime shook
Saskatoon, and the local police were under
serious pressure to find the killer and halt
the minor hysteria that was spreading
through the quiet Prairie town. After four
months of no leads, the police used high
pressure interview tactics and a $2,000
reward to coax a statement out of Cadrain.
Although he and David's fellow road
trippers kept changing their stories,
Saskatoon's finest felt they had their man.
ENG1P – Poetry
Miss McBride
The jury showed no sympathy for the hippie
who had already been convicted of petty
theft and taking a truck for a joyride at 14.
The evidence seemed to fit, especially since
such a horrific murder had to have been
committed by an outsider. No one in idyllic
Saskatoon could do such a thing, the police
had said so themselves. David became a 17
year old convicted murderer and was
condemned to spend the next 23 years of
his life in prison.
Perhaps the most poignant and powerful
aspect of the Milgaard story is that even
though David had 20 opportunities for
parole during his sentence, he did not once
make a request for an early release. This
would have required him to admit to the
crime, something he was never prepared to
do. Had David accepted responsibility for
Gail Miller's death, he could have been
released after 7 or 8 years.
"...Hung with pictures of our parents prime
ministers."
While David's life wasted away as a
convicted murderer, six Prime Ministers of
Canada held office and oversaw more than
a dozen ministers of justice. Joyce Milgaard,
David's mother and this story's heroic figure
outside the prison walls, lobbied and
personally pleaded her sons case with at
least two of them.
"...Late breaking story on the CBC
A nation whispers, we always knew that
he'd go free"
Joyce Milgaard made it her life's mission to
champion the cause of her wrongly
convicted son. She was the public persona
of the struggle to free David. She managed
to famously confront Prime Minister
Name: ________________
Date: _________________
Mulroney on television and demand a new
trial.
The CBC, which is Canada's publicly funded
national broadcaster, not only gave heavy
coverage to the Milgaard story on its
newscasts, but also exposed the flaws and
unanswered questions of David's initial
conviction during special editions of their
"Fifth Estate" and "The Journal" programs.
Joyce Milgaard appeared on the networks
popular "Front Page Challenge" to explain
David's plight. She also managed to
confront future prime minister, then
Mulroney's justice minister, Kim Campbell.
The CBC's cameras caught all of it.
On April 16, 1992, after David had spent
8,355 days behind bars, CBC anchorman
Peter Mansbridge announced what
everyone knew was coming: David Milgaard
was finally a free man.
In 1997, Milgaard was completely cleared of
the crime and legally absolved of all charges
when DNA evidence proved he could not
have killed Gail Miller. The same evidence
linked another convicted killer with the
murder. David accepted a 10 million dollar
settlement from the Canadian and
Saskatchewan governments.
Although physically free, the ordeal took a
psychological toll on David. Some incidents
were publicly reported. His recovery and
reconciliation process was long and difficult.
Its early stages included a 1993 trip to meet
The Tragically Hip and hear "Wheat Kings"
played live for, and dedicated to, David
Milgaard.