NOTE: Make sure you look up, in a dictionary or Wikipedia, all words and terms you don't know. For example, you have to know what "moil" means; what "kale" is; what "a poke of dust" is; and so on with a number of other words. You are responsible for knowing these, and won't enjoy the poems unless you do.
Study "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Ballad of Yukon Jake". How is the second an imitation of the first? a commentary on the first? a parody of the first? (Look up "Parody" in Wikipedia).
Write 300 - 350 words on this question.
You may quote from various sources. But the quotations will NOT count towards your own word count. And you do not have to quote.
Put both assignment into ONE email and send to your group and to me.
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* EXTRA CREDIT (if you want it): Pick one of these ballads. Memorize it! Be prepared to recite it from memory!
Confession: When I was a teenager in the Boy Scouts we would go camping. After lights out, when we were lying in our sleeping bags in the Canadian woods, we would tell each other stories. Ghost stories were a favorite. I memorized some of these poems and recited them to my mates. "The Cremation of Sam McGee" was the most popular. For some reason, the one I remember today, from beginning to end, is "The Ballad of Yukon Jake."
Other poems I recited included "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" -- very spooky at night. Also Wordsworth, "Ode on Intimations of Immortality", soliloquies from "Hamlet" (Shakespeare), and humorous, clever songs from different operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan like "H.M.S. Pinafore," "The Gondoliers," "Trial By Jury," and others.
Ghost stories, these verses, and some others, have served me well over the years, during college, graduate school, and even after that. My girlfriends always liked them too!
So, try it. Memorize one or more of these great verse stories. What do you have to lose?. And you will be eligible for "extra credit"!
And you can recite them to your friends, girl-/boyfriends, relatives, et al., for the rest of your life!