Canadian Literature 1

[find notes first course]

p.57 : Its not a short narrative (playing checkers with the devil). The anecdote
has power. The point of this game ? 2 times : Thompson in the story as a young
man of 17, and Thomson the teller whos 80 (is there a heaven ? is there a hell ?).
Its about a man interpreting his life. Its placed in the context of other characters
who did drink and gamble, while Thomson didnt. So he wins.
1. Thompson

The composition of the manuscript

Thomson needs money at the end of his life, hes in bankruptcy because of the
market of fur trade collapsing.

1840 : writes to a Colonial Governor of Canada (highest official in Canda),

Sydenham, and requests his patronage. Its a very old model of authorship.
This shows how separate he is of the modern 19 th century world of
publishing. The man answers no, but Thompson still writes in 1843.

1845-47 : Tries another publishing strategy, to publish by subscription (the

prices are collected from the public and it finances authorship and
publication), Thompson published a prospectus in the Montreal Gazette.
This also failed : it depended in trust, on a certain mark of authority, and
he had none.

1847-48 : Thomson writes to George Simson, Governor of the HBC, and

requested a monthly salary. Simpson refuses, but he offers him a different
job in fur trade and Thompson refused (too old). 48 : he falls ill, but
continues to write after his temporary blindness.

1849-50 : Continued the draft, almost died of cholera in 49, but resumes
writing in 50 and adds his memories of childhood. Then he became blind
for good. Thats why the version we read is the 1850 version (it was edited
by Thompson). -> the manuscript is composed of different drafts, written
at different times, with numerous insertions, thats why editions had to put
everything in the order the deemed correct.

Posthumous publication : One of his sons, Joshua, sold the manuscript

to a newspapers editor in Toronto who sold it to Tyrrell, famous
palaeontologist. It was first published by the society in 1916, an
amateur association of rich people who have connections in the bank.
Since then, different editors have emphasized different things. Square
brackets with a roman numeral : system to refer to the drafts.

The chronological order

1. Youth and arrival at Hudson Bay, 1784 (age 14)
2. First journey inland, 1786-90
- Game of checkers with the Devil, 1787 (age 17)
- Winter with Piegans, 1787-88. Residence with Cree-Piegan elder,
Saukamappee (age 18)
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- Accident (broken leg) at Manchester House, Dec. 1788

- Training as surveyor by Philip Turnor, summer 1879
3. Journey to Lake Athabasca, 1796 (age 26) p.150, draws maps
4. Joining of North West Company, 1797, enabled him to do a Journey to the
Missouri River, 1797-98 (age 27-28)
5. Marriage, 1799. Partnership in NWC, 1804. Retirements to central Canada,
1812 (age 42)
-> Look at the maps while reading (maps on slide).

The authority of the text

How true is it ? Its up to the reader to decide. But we have some clues. This is
the text of an old man, Thompson is 80, hes remembering. Saukamappees story
was the story of an old man (probably 90) and himself is 80. So memories are
massive parts of this manuscript, and memory changes. Thomson is also using
records, he kept a journal from 1790 on. He used that to compose his narrative.
In this daily journal, he recorded things like temperature, distance, latitude, He
constantly took measurements. It helps us believe in his authority.
Theres also the oral tradition : the First Nations tradition. Thompson lived with
aboriginals for the 1st part of his life and has great respect for them. And he
grows into this oral tradition, which is a highly native genre. He listens to hundred
of stories. He says at one point (p. 65) that for 4 months, every evening, he
would listen to Saukamappee. So part of the authority in Thompson depends on
the authority of the oral tradition.
Ideologies inform his text : they affect our experience of the authority of the text.
For example, his position sometimes seems conventional (typical Protestant
Christian : hes sometimes checking himself to see if he writes what a good
Christian would write > he doesnt have great respect for the French Canadians
because literacy was less emphasized in their culture). Theres personal
vendettas against other writers, like Michael Ballantyne. By contrast, he rejects
fantastical romance, he wishes to practice a kind of writing based on first-hand
experience (empiricism). When he speaks about the Inuits, he takes an excerpt
from someone elses book to speak about them because he doesnt know them
enough.
Empiricism derives from experience in Greek ; he establishes his empiricism in
different remarks (p.98) : for example he says he has more authority to speak
about the Cree because he has travelled with them, and seen them pray.
Ironically, the manuscript never being published works in its favour now. No third
party came along and changed things. The fact that it is a messy manuscript is
an argument for is authority.

Thompsons description of the Cree

Postcolonialism : the critical analysis of cultures that have been colonized by
imperial powers. Studied since the 70s approximately. One of the founding texts
is the book Orientalism (1978 bay Sad) : it explore the idea that imperialism
happened through more than physical actions, like discourse, language, culture.
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Hybridity (hybrida LATIN) : Combination or mixing resulting from the encounter

between imperial and indigenous culture. Behind this term, the key political move
is that we dont pretend that one of these powers eliminates the other
(imperialism doesnt eliminate indigenous culture) : these 2 things combine in
unique ways. Canadian culture is seen as hybrid.
Rationally, Thompson looks at the name, their region, their clothes, their beliefs
and manners. And we can see that the text was generated by the meeting of
cultures. So much so that the terms English and aboriginal start to seem
artificial, because nothing purely is one or the other.
The name : Their very name is contingent upon history of contact. The name
Cree comes from French fur-traders. The Cree dont even have the r letter in
their alphabet ! Their real name is something else, it means people that speak
the same language. Thats why Thompson uses their real name, not Cree.
Even though today Crees use this name. Theres hybridity even in the name.
Physical appearance : varies with the environment. Some are only middle-sized
for example. Clothes (p.97) : cloth is not deer skin -> Lots of the clothing of the
First Nations were hybrid, they wore some textiles made in Europe.
Beliefs : Beautiful descriptions of religion in Thompson (both Christian and
others). Both religions seem to be anchored in the splendour of the natural world.
Metaphor in the reaction of beauty -> both religions seem to believe in
immortality of the soul, Thompson looks for the similarities in their beliefs. He
begins there, his metaphor, in order to make credible his catalogue of native
spirits. He describes the Manitous (the Great Manitou is the benevolent creator //
God, most powerful spirit). Every animal and bird has its own Manitou. Each
person has a ghost, and there are evil spirits.
Manitous inhabit places (p.100), especially the falls and rivers. The waterfall is
beautiful but its also a place of renewal, of food.

[completer]

Thompsons narrative of his journey to the Missouri River

It mixes genres. Some sections are highly descriptive, and some are narrative (->
first encounter of extended narrative = journey to Missouri River). Dont mistake
that with a lack of literary design. Hes full of literary planning and ideas about
genres. Hes always thinking about how best to communicate his experience to
the reader.
3 classic elements of narrative :

Plot (comprises the action of the story, but not just that, it means the way
in which the action is organized for dramatic effect -> when someone tells
us a good story for example + its principle is essentially conflict, struggle
-> agon in Greek : gave protagonist and antagonist)
Character (who plays a role in a story : how do they act and why ?)
Setting (when and where does the story unfold, what significance does the
location have)

The setting of Thompsons narrative : very important. Hes mapping the land.
Stages of Thompsons journey to Missouri : (always exposed places / shelter
places)

Departure from Assiniboine House (28 nov 1797)

Progress southwest up the Souris River
First attempt to shortcut across the plains (failure), retreat to oak woods on
the river
Arrival at Ash House (abandoned)
Crossing of plains to Turtle Hill, again they are almost lost in a blizzard
Rejoin the Souris River for a time
Crossing of plains to Dog Tent Hill, near ambush by the Sioux
Arrival at the Missouri River, first at the Hidatsa (Fall Indian) villages and
then at the Mandan, 30 December

Thompson is the natural protagonist of his own narrative, and hes also the
captain of the men in moments of terror. Hes the leader. Theres John McDonnell,
Thompsons guide and interpreter, his manservant, The French Canadians are
described as stereotypes. Theyre characterized as illiterate etc, so in this sense
theyre antagonists. And theyre often described in juxtaposition with their dogs
(undisciplined, like to eat, loud,). The clear antagonists are the Sioux. He says
theyre hostile because of conflicts. But also the Sioux used to live as woodland
people, subsisting on wild rice and sugar, and when the French fur traders arrived
in this area, native people (Ojibwa) went farther and farther west to get the fur
and entered on the Siouxs territory, who had to move and adapt themselves to a
new life.
The conflicts that structure Thompsons journey are :

Science and senses

French Canadians are antagonists there because they dont trust Thompsons
compass, it threatens to break the company apart but ultimately they all follow
Thompson and they survive thanks to him. The mens god at this point become
more obedient !

Weather and men

The extreme temperatures are great obstacles. On their first night, its around
-40c ! Theres also snow and darkness (at night, they have to navigate by the
wind alone because they cant see the compass -> its so dark that they dont
know that theyve arrived at the Turtle Hill until Thompson feels a branch of tree
on his face). They light a fire and what preserves them is their compassion for
each other (rescue one of them who got lost). Tension : are we going to survive ?
T represents the weather as surpassing his knowledge (p.206) : what can be the
cause of this storm ? -> Narrative technique = the sublime, art category in the
19th c., anything that is of immeasurable magnitude. Classic definition provided
by Edmund Burke. Typically, great mountains, the sea, the wind, Any great
natural phenomenon that outstrips human measure. The sublime is used to also
describe emotion states like imagination, irrational capacities for good or evil
He uses simile (class of metaphor) ( is like the sea) in order to capture our
imagination.

The Sioux

We get several warnings indicating a conflict with the Sioux (p.200, p.202 story
of Turtle Hill-,). When they do encounter the Sioux, they get through against all
odds because of the bad weather (they dont see them) : Thompson uses on
conflict to resolve another (p.207). The weather is turned into the agent of
salvation. A few things confirm this : it happens on Dec. 24 (Christmas when
Providence saves the world, if it really happened on that date doesnt really
matter), and he exploits the setting of the place (between two waters). So it show
signs of literary art.

Thompsons representation of the First Nation het meets at Missouri

The level of experience and authority shifts : Thompson knew the Crees well, but
not the Hidatsa and the Mandan. He spend only 10 days with them. Much of what
he recounts here is second-hand. Manoa is a French Canadian trader married to a
Hidatsa woman. T calls him completely French : brave, gay and boastful. Hes
not native, as natives dont boast (and T says it annoyed the natives so much
that one day they killed him which is not true). Shahaka is the Mandan chief in
the greatest Mandan village. He also welcome the Lewis & Clark expedition a few
years later and will meet the American president Jefferson in Washington (when
he returns, his tales of White America seem so unbelievable that hes discredited
by his peers). So T just scratches the surface: one of the natives he describe isnt
really a native. He focuses on Mandan agriculture, which has a political aspect.
Its a settlement, so they have an agricultural economy, they dont have to chase
animal. Its important because there was that strong belief that Europeans were
agricultural. Thats what divided them from savagery and made Europe superior.
Ts narration and description of agriculture upsets this belief. Agriculture had a
long history in America, and T wants to find out how long. He only finds out that it
goes back so far that none can remember.
We also see hybridity (pumpkins, beans, melons, -> Produced in excess
quantities so they trade). Their tools are sticks pointed and hardened, but also
iron and metal tools (because of the trade). So even before Europeans settle
there, theres hybridity because of trade.
Most interesting element = their customs. Dancing, prostitution, ritual sex. One
of the most remarkable passages of the book. Alterity = philosophical term
meaning otherness -> Analysis of alterity in a literary text reveals how a
process of contrast defines the self in exaggerated distinction to the other. T
describe the dancing, their clothes (that leave nothing to imagination) and is
bothered by it. He himself sees it. Its an important trade visit, so maybe it was a
special display for guests, not something that occurs every day as T seems to
think. T sees the dancing, but he never sees the summer sex ceremony which
takes place later, after he left. So its a second-hand report. It lasts for 3 days
during the summer (one rule : you cant choose your husband).
Is it imagination or fact ? Its a year before his marriage aged 29. Hes then 28
and hasnt had sex. Maybe its becoming crucial in his life as hes about to get
married. He also sees the social problems of sex : he sees it as individual body
urge that could arise at any moment and might be at odds with social rules. But
then sex is also the process of regeneration in a society. This sex ceremony is a
form a carnival, just like Mardi Gras before Easter. We can also see alterity at
work in this passage : sexual desire is something that T must feel himself but he
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rejects it on other people. He says its the works of the devil (p.217). And it
makes sense that it is set in a liminal place in the narrative, not on the climax.
P.217 : about the French Canadians, came for the prostitution. T condemns this
and undermines any moral legitimacy behind the fur trade.

2. Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Reminder : were asking, what can these writings tell us about Canada, and
literature ?
Chandler wrote satyres. His writing is humorous, calculated to make laugh. What
does he tell us about Canada . He gives voice to the loyalist conservatism.
Thompson was a voice for fur trade, and Canada would not have existed without
fur trade.
Another keyword for Haliburton is rivalry with the US. It animates his writing.
Haliburtons purpose was to urge Canada to prosperity within the British Empire
(as opposed to succumbing to the commercial superiority of the US). His writings
also show us the Canadian print culture : first, he had a column in a newspaper,
then his manuscript was a published book.

Biography
Came from a family of Tory monarchists. Born in 1796. His grandfather arrived
before the American Revolution. His father and grandfather were successful
lawyers who become judges (upper class) and Thomas will follow their path. But
his mothers family was a loyalist family and some of the members of her family
died at sea. Thomas attended a school run by the Church of England. He
graduated in 1815. He remembers seeing the 1812 (Americas attempt to chase
the British from their continent, kind of American Revolution part 2) war as a boy.
He grew up in a colony more implicated in the Napoleonic wars in Europe.
Becoming a young man, he saw his colony increasing interest in democratic
reforms. It undermines the position of his family.
Chandler married at the age of 20. Had children. Embarked on his legal and
political career in Ncocha. His character in politics was a bit unpredictable : he
wasnt always a true blue Tory. He defended a lot of Tory causes (farm lands
reserved for the Church of England). The independence of character didnt win
him many friends. He ultimately became a judge. 1848: N became the first British
colony to achieve responsible government (the top-down government was
changing). He also became an author. His first book was not literary at all : it was
a scientific, business book describing his colony as a good place to settle and
create industry. It was praised by like-minded people but didnt really sell. So he
turned to satire. He continued to write for the rest of his life. But his first book,
The clockmaker, was judged the best. His wife died and hoped to be elected
governor. He then resigned in 1856 and moved to England, where he spent the
rest of his life, remarried. He had success in England (degree in Oxford, House of
Commons).

Publication of The Clockmaker, Series 1

21 articles in Joseph Howes newspaper, The Novascotian, Sept. 1835Feb.1836 : Howe called it a universal favorite. Howe didnt really share
Chandlers politics, he was a liberal Reformer, slightly younger. He
published articles to criticize politicians for corruptions : for example, he
was even accused of lying in a trial (gave a great defence, was acquitted,
had a political carreer and was involved in the shift to responsible
government). This Tory monarchist was then trying to push his message in
a liberal newspaper. The newspaper would not publish a direct Tory
message, so Chandler had to be clever to send his message.

First edition : Halifax : Joseph Howe, 1836. Important in Canadian History,

Howe had never made a book before. He published the first edition of The
Clockmaker in 36 and Chandler gave him all the profits since he didnt
need the money. But then came copyright law. Chandler was proud of his
book and he gave a copy of it to a friend, who took it to England and
showed it to Richard Bentley, one of the great 19 th century publishers in
London. Bentley knew that no book published in a British colony had
copyright So he took it and began to sell it for double the price in
England. It received praise from the magazines.

Reprint, London : Richard Bentley, 1837

Reprint, Philadelphia : Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1837. Also a pirated

version. Created an international phenomenon. So its a good thing for the
author, but not for the publisher. Howe totally lost his investment. Cheap
American books had the tendency to come up in Canada, so Joseph found
pirated copies of the American version.

Many other reprints

It speaks to a local readership. The author was at first anonymous, because he

follow the old tradition saying that the strength of your arguments mattered more
than who you were.

The Clockmaker is a cycle of satirical anecdotes, not a novel, about the life,
politics and economy in N. Theres a loose frame : 2 characters travel on
horseback. It begins in Halifax, then Truro and Amherst, then come back South to
end up at Windsor. The book starts as fun but then getting serious when they
approach Chandlers birth place (Windsor). The basis of the work is geographical :
hes not a map maker but he aims to describe the land and the people.
2 main characters :

The Squire : British Colonial Tory

Sam Slick : The salesman from Connecticut. He speaks most of the text,
hes the clockmaker : his humour is meant to expose the weaknesses in
Ns society. Slick is more than a character, hes a persona (Latin : mask) =
a speaker in a literary work, whose position and views can to some degree
be distinguished from the authors. Slick is a construction that lets
Haliburton deliver his message. Sometimes, Haliburton intends us to laugh
at Slick, so sometimes he creates distance, especially since Sam is the
antithesis of everything British, a cunning Yankee, but he often voices
Haliburtons own opinion. SO the persona is a tactic that gives the author
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license. Also, hes an outsider to N and can claim to objectivity, a standard

of comparison.
Satire : I decided it would be advisable to resort to a more popular style, and,
under the garb of amusement, to call attention to our noble harbours, our great
mineral wealth, our fertile soil, our healthy climate, our abundant fisheries, and
other natural advantages and resources, arising from our relative position to the
Saint Lawrence, the West Indies, and the US, and resulting from the
circumstances of this country being the nearest point of the American continent
to Europe (speech, 1839).
The greatest danger of satire is that you can miss the lesson. Satire is a literary
genre, very popular in the 18th century. Its the literary art of criticizing an object
by stirring up feelings of scorn, indignation, or ridicule against it. Satire is attack
or mockery for the sake of instruction. Formal satire : overt criticism (Junevalian
satire, Horatian satire). Indirect satire : ironic representation ; reader must infer
the criticism (Menippean satire).
The first chapter introduces us to The Squire. Is it formal or indirect satire ? ->
Indirect. The Squire thinks hes superior, but hes not. The Squire has this British
vice of assuming hes superior to anyone he meets. There may be superiority in
the world, but its earned, says Haliburton (even the higher classes have to work
hard to keep managing things correctly). Use of syllepsis.
Gulling a Blue Nose = the clockmaker succeeds in tricking someone. Theres a
symmetry to the chapter. It begins a generalization (all stories end with the same
point = not promising too much). It denounces gullibility. Haliburton touches a
long-time truth in Canada: Canadians except someone else to fix their problems.
In this chapter, its direct satire. If there were more notes in this chapter, wed
understand it better (like the geography : the packet is a packet boat for
example) ; In British Literature, theres this tradition of taking on the note from
earlier editions but here theres not tradition. + Lack of quotation marks, we
dont know whos talking sometimes.

3. Susanna Moodie
Bear the publishing history in mind : (more info, -> anthology)

Moodie published sketches in a magazine (The Literary Garland)

Wrote Canadian Sketches

Lovells printing establishment is still there, in the Old Port.

She expanded her writings into a book manuscript, that she send to a
friend, John Bruce (across the Atlantic), who offered it to Bentley (1850s :
Bentley has figured out how to work with Canadian authors on more proper
basis) -> The book was packaged for English readers
-> Sold well, in the US also
Collection of short pieces at first conceived for a serialized publishing, each
piece having a strong internal unity.
Based on Canadian experience, but powerfully shaped by English editors
and public

Susanna writes in the genre of sketch, not a novel. Influenced by a famous work :
Mary Russell Mitford, Our village (1824-32). It described people and places in
rural England. Its embellished, its fine writing not just journalism.
Moodies first extract is about what its like to arrive in a new world (struck by
nature,). 2nd extract : focus about the farm and the liberties of their (poor)
neighbours. 3rd extract : about a particular person. Moodie is a very allegorical
writer. Allegory is an idea or abstraction presented as a person or a story that has
a second significance beyond the first. Moodie writes very realistically, but she
embellishes her sketch with literary significance and meanings that go beyond
the literal meaning.
So : sketch, British audience, and allegory.
1st sketch : short preface, introductory poem, then her arrival. Its where the book
starts. 1st half of he book : arrival and moving to the 1 st farm, 2nd half of the book :
describes the 2nd farm in the bush (real hardships, lots of work). So 1 st sketch =
arrival on a new land. Surprise, admiration, but then disappointment. The captain
warns her that things may look good from afar, but not up close. Uses rhetoric of
the sublime (eyes blinded by the excess of beauty) and the picturesque
(human elements : sheets of laundry). One extreme -> another (revulsion). The
problem is the people she run into, they turn out to be a riotous mob. At first
glance, were a bit offended by her snobbery (she disdains the Irish labor etc).
But thats not the point : Moodie is writing a political critique, shes deeply weary
of the rhetoric of revolution and democracy (-> French Revolution : bloodshed,
Jacobean reign of terror, Napoleonic wars). She criticizes not really the liberty of
America but the abrupt rebellion, the spirit of insubordination and misrule, the
rush for absolute freedom. In a way, its founded because liberty is not that
simple.
Contrasts at the level of language : after the picturesque and the sublime, we
have a poem (because prose cant do this nature justice) which contrasts with the
Irish. The sketch opens with the incident with the doctors : the doctors must carry
out a health inspection before they can arrive. The French doctor seems to stand
for New France, and the other for Britain. (?) They are tricked by the captain
(babies -> pugs). Susanna // doctors : full of expectations, disappointed with the
new life they encounter (not beautiful, but furious and dangerous).
On p.28 : reference to him who sat on the pale horse -> allusion to the Bible
(Revelation chapter) : the rider is Death.
p.29 : reference to . = ancient Greek god of medicine.
2nd sketch : ch.5 of the book. Moodies move to their first farm. The theme of
disappointment continues. Yankee driver warns her that she has much to learn.
The farm is horrible. The focus is on property. They buy their farm in Cobourg
(she follow the tradition of not naming some places or persons), probably from a
Mr. Clark. But this farm was originally owned by a loyalist, who had to sell the
farm to Clark (land speculator) because of debts, and the Harris family rents it. So
they cant drive the Harris before the next harvest, and have to live in this hut on
the property until then. What is property in Canada, when it is owned by Britain
but already lived on ? Their neighbours are genuine Yankees -> collision British /
Americans.
We meet Emily S (Seaton) at first, who borrows everything without returning
anything. Moodie finally gets rid of her. Then the father, called Old Satan (old
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Seaton), wants to borrow their plough. Then Betty Fye (Old Satans mother) who
also keeps taking things. The Seatons are Americans, but theyre in upper
Canada They could just have taken the advantage of the situation, or kicked
out loyalists from the US, Allegory : situation of Canada. Canada is the British
territory that borders on the US. So Moodie has to learn to live with the
Americans, while Canada has to deal with the US as their neighbour (closer to the
US than to Britain).
p.36 : Susanna describes her home sickness. Idealistic definition of home and
reality on p.35. basically, Americans are squatters -> Moodies British Imperial
ideology. Interesting contest of language happening : what Americans call
borrowing, Susanna calls stealing. American vs British English (Emily calls herself
a lady, fine slack = thread, Seaton which is understood by Susanna as Satan,
rooster, sarce) -> climaxes on p.33-34 : confrontation Betty/Susanna :
Susanna wants to use the word beggar and then they quote the Bible (Susanna
succeeds in controlling the holy word), and Betty curses (last resort of the
unimaginative). Susanna takes proper control of what words mean -> property.
3rd sketch : Ch.11 of the book. Allegory = solitude at the metaphysical level.
Preliminary verse : meditation on solitude. Brian is introduced in the dominant
tone of loneliness (walks in, doesnt say anything, failure of language). He starts
to form a friendship with the Moodies, then when they move away he falls prey to
his suicidal tendencies. We get Brians background through an embedded
narrative. It gives use information that Brian might not want to disclose himself :
story about the deer. How does this story fit into this sketch about solitude ? ->
How can there be a benevolent god if an innocent creature is murdered ?
Agnostic doubts, we may be alone in the universe. Susanna is a Christian, she
was even part of a sect when younger, and shes studying in Brian this
metaphysical solitude : she understands that some people dont believe in God,
but those people are solitary and she pities them. Susanne imagines herself in
that solitude, its not just a superficial critique of agnosticism. She practices
independence as a pioneer wife : learns to milk the cow. But absolute
independence leads to Brians situation.
Story ends with the botanist, who admires trivial plants in the forest : Susanna
seems to say heres the solution to Brians problem -> Were loved liked the
botanist loves his plants.

Malcolms Katie
Epic = recounts the exploits of a legendary hero, tells a story of which the faith of
a nation depends. Extends back to ancient culture.
Canadian epic -> struggle between evil/good, Canadian nation. But not only an
epic.
Romance also features action and battle good/evil, but epic describes heroes and
gods, romance is interested in humans and sexual love. Quest undertaken by a
solitary knight. Courage, loyalty, honor, graceful manners. Battles, fighting of
monsters, magic.
Romance was reborn in the works of Walter Scott (19 th c.) : Lay of the Last
Minstrel (1805). One of the most popular poems in the 19 th c. Tells the story of a
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Scottish feud caused by love between 2 young persons. Center of the poem =
sexual love but out of that love comes a solution for the nation. Supernatural
elements : the land itself speaks, theres a book of magic and an evil gnome. +
Rituals and beliefs of the church -> story of love and supernatural aura.
Canadian romance, Max and Katies love promises a brighter future for the
Canadian nation. Embody the hope of a new world. Extended speeches and
complicated sentences. Supernatural aspects (not clear how Max survives).
Focus on 4 characters :

Katie Graham : 16-year-old girl becoming a woman, protagonist

Max : his lover, you root for their innocent couple since the beginning
-> Both Scottish
Alfred : Rival for Katies love, antagonist
Malcolm Graham : Katies father, a wealthy widower (wealth can be an
obstacle : Max has to measure up to that), fairly good man but represents
this wealth that acts antagonistically on their love interest

The land itself speaks in this poem : long description, with allegory of Autumn.
Also, allegory of North Wind. The land gets a voice.

Reuben : Malcoms brother

A lad who chops wood with Max
Katies mother : Malcoms deceased wife, fits in the supernatural aspect,
sense that shes there

Prose is language organized dramatically, poetry is organized acoustically and

musically, its informed by sound effects and written in verses. Meter is the
underlying pattern sound in which the poem is composed. From 16 th c. to 20th c.
the dominant form of meter was the accentual syllabic meter -> Feet and line
length. 6 kinds of different feet :

Iamb (today) : 2 syllable pattern on which the second is stressed

Anapest (gasoline) : same but 3 syllables, last syllable gets the stress
Trochee (after) : stressed then unstressed syllable
Dactyl (excellent)
Pyrrhic (of a ) : 2 unstressed syllables together (in a sentence)
Spondee (man-made) : 2 stressed syllables

Line with one foot : monometer, 2 feet : di-meter, 3 feet : tri-meter, 4 : tetrameter, 5 : penta-meter.
Max placd a ring on Katies hand
-> normally, stressed = and
unstressed = ^
A silver ring that he had beaten out
From that same sacred coin-first well prizd wage
-> Bold = stressed
Crawford varies the meter on key phrases : lays emphasis on Max, on the samesacred coin (spondee). Draws attention to the themes of the poem.
Love story, 2 lovers about to marry. Plot structured by conflict, Max addresses
that conflict on part 1 : he asks Katie if shell fall in love with another man when
hes gone. Hes figuring Kate as a Rose, saying that shes maybe happy right now
with his wing blowing on her, but perhaps another breeze will come. He also asks
11

if Malcom will permit them to get married. This depends on Max proving himself.
He puts himself in Malcoms place. In reality, both of these questions are
variations on the problem of property.
Faithfulness in love comes down to the quest of owning each other. And the
second question is linked to having a house that they can call their own.
What about the title ? Isabellas father died when she was 25 and had to support
her mother and children. So the title is a bit strange. But its linked with propriety,
it signals the theme of the poem -> Can Katie grow into her own maturity ? The
father is not an antagonist, he lets Katie choose (after the mothers apparition).
Happy reversal at the end of the poem : Malcom leaves and lives with Max and
Katie at their farm. Has it changed into Katies Malcom ?
But theres no easy escape to the problem of property. If Katie leaves her house,
its to enter her husbands house. Alfred pursues Katie simply for her money. But
is Max any better ? Can Katie be saved from being someones property ? Its a
real question for women of the 19th c. The problem only expands from property in
intimate relations to public properties. As an Irish woman, Isabella would have a
deep sense of Britain as an Imperial power. Britain took strict control of Ireland ->
2 rebellions in 1798 and 1848, violently repressed. Is Canada going to be the
same ? Contrast Imperial Europe / Pioneer Canada. Crawford is critiquing empire,
sees the problem of property expanding to the political level. Its a story about
finding the right politics. The answer she seems to explore through Maxs voice is
mutualism, partnership : man and wife holding hands, etc Passage ends on a
vision of self-reliance, idealized space. This problem of property isnt easily
solved.
Other theme in part 1 : Max refers to Katies face and speaks of her as a rose
(figures that comes back a lot) : the plant can have a seed in a rock and grow and
can split the rock.
Malcolms Katie presents Canada through the key problem of property : should
Imperial Europe own the new world ? Should a man own his daughter or wife ?
Should the English settlers own the Natives lands ? Sorrow is not absurdity, it is
the poems matrix. Ideal altruism : Max and Katie can only reach this after facing
death -> theyre dying on some level, then salvation and rebirth happen. Alfred
also, is nihilistic but forgiven in the end. Hes reborn as the child. If property is an
act of exclusion, Crawford wants to turn it in to an act of inclusion (forgiveness of
the enemy). Crawford presents this altruism as a national solution (ends with a
vision of Canada).
Crawford belongs to the Confederation poetry.

The Confederation poetry

What was confederation ? 1867, British Parliament passed the British North
American act. 4 colonies are united. It created all the Canadians problems : it
defines what Ottawa is responsible for, and what each province is responsible for.
The BNA didnt define a new country instantly. Lots of matters still needed British
ascent. It wasnt like the American Revolution, but a lot of Canadians still felt that
a new country was born. Confederation poetry sprang from that moment : well
finish that creation through literature.

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Confederation Poets = 6 male poets, who knew each other and worked together.
Charles G.D Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, D.C. Scott, Frederick
George Scott and W.W Campbell. It was a real literary movement. They published
together, were inspired by each other. More generally, the term also designates
poetry of this era (1880-1910), including Crawford.
They started in 1880, first Roberts book : Orion. Roberts was the leader of the
group. They all appeared in an important anthology (Later Canadian Poems).
They broke in 1897 : Campbell accused other members of plagiarism.
5 characteristics of their poetry :

Write about Canada

Believed that Canada needed a distinctive literature that would celebrate and
define it. The people living there were very diverse, talks many different
languages, and they needed to be united.

Young Ireland + Young Canada

They were inspired by the Irish national movement of Young Ireland. Inspired
them the idea that if the state couldnt exist through legislation, it could be
created through literature. Inspired by Duffy, Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845) :
defined the songs of the people. Crawford grew up in Ireland. So when Orion was
published, it was hailed as the spark Canadian literature was waiting for.

Nature

Interest in the land of Canada, the connexion between nature and culture.
Environmental determinism : the land defines the character of the people ->
Racy of the soil : because of this belief theyre keen observers of nature. They
also believe in the spiritual essence of nature.

Inspired by English Romanticism

-> Wordsworth, Keats, When the Confederation poets were growing up, they
were the teaching canon. They also read the Greek and Latin classics and derived
their poetry from this model. They resisted the influence of American authors like
Walt Whitman.

Restraint

Not much happens in these poems. Theyre lyric, and quiet. They interpret the
spirit of the land in the Romantic tradition, but dont embrace the radical or
sublime elements of it. They want to convey beautiful places but also cultivate a
stillness of soul that permits the perception of natural beauty.

Charles Roberts, The Tantramar Revisited

summer, summer have come and gone
With the flight of the swallows -> dactyl pattern, dactylic hexameter. Meter of
epic poetry in Greek and Latin. So it is a high, grave, poem that defines the
nation. Also, rhythmic variations : l.8 for example (these, green, hills :
stressed).

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Poems about specific landscapes. Roberts knows that these places are the middle
of nowhere, but its somewhere important for him because thats here he spent
his childhood. The poem affirms the worth of that place. One of the techniques he
uses is deixis (= relation of speech to the spatial and temporal context of the
speaker here, we, you, now, = deictic words). These green hills.
Poem begins with a consideration about time, how the years fly. Then, description
of the meadow. Interest in a middle space : the hilltops themselves are sunny and
bright, then there the meadow as a middle space between it and the sea. Then
describes the Westmore Marches (Tantramar marches) = also middle space. Vivid
colours. Concludes with the feeling of stillness. Kind of a boring subject Why ?
Aesthetics of restraint, the net . are a hinge between nature and culture, and
they symbolize poetry. Metaphor for memory and poetry. Poetry is a net that
captures wind and sunlight. Imagery of light and darkness juxtaposed. On the net
there are bits of frayed net, or seaweed we dont really know, go Is a
mysterious word. -> Mysterious texture of poetry. Tries to give us a net : the
poem is also a middle space.
2nd poem : about ideal. The sun is the source of light, its a blessed power. 1 st
stanza : rhymes a-a, b-b, c-c, d-d. Rhythmic variation = when the meter changes
(here, poem = iambic tetrameter), steep hill for example is a spondee.
Alliteration : repetition of a consonant sound (slowly steel). Anastrophe :
inversion of normal grammatical order of words for poetic effect -> slowly steels
a hay cart, lays emphasis on whats coming. Enjambment : to swim beyond.
Paradox : apparent contradiction, with deeper sense. Onomatopoeia : clacking.
+ Imagery.
So poem about the ideal. Allegorical landscape on one side, and steep hills on the
other side. The poet is on a religious path, up until that brightness after the hills.
Last line emphasizes thought. But on a hot day, do you have this clear and sharp
thought ? Its a bit of a problem in the imagery. -> Daniel 3 in the Bible : about
idolatry. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to idolize the statue.
The poem brushes on this great myth at the end. Hot weather -> furnace of trial.
Among the Timothy : 2 worlds, city/country : the poem inducts us into a
regenerative rest. Rest, even from creating poetry. + Imagery of death being not
the end, being a signal of the spiritual.
Afrogs ? : also about idealism. Hails the frog as the soul of the world. Stanzas
are sonnets (Renaissance form used to express love) -> expresses his love of
nature.

Duncan Campbell Scott

Good poet, but also a symbol of everything that went wrong in Canada. Scott was
at the heart of the Confederation Poets: his work exemplifies the movement. Was
a civil servant in the department of Indian fares (ran and oversaw the Indian
Residential Schools) -> Problem of understanding his writing in combination with
the deplorable policies that he was involved in; no real solution to that, but
present legacy in Canada.
Decline of the fur trade : Thompson critiqued the extermination of beavers. The
problem is that fur trade was implanted but exterminated the animals.
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Agriculture was not unknown to First Nations but hunt was the core of their
culture. Hunt was compatible with fur trade. But fur trade led to the collapse of
many animal populations after 3 centuries : most dramatic = bison in the 19 th c.
It expanded as guns and horses arrived in America. 1880: bisons almost went
extinct. The communities on the Plains face starvation -> Major factor in the 1885
Northwest Rebellion. The rebellion was suppressed by the Canadian government
with the help of the rail-road and a certain type of gun. Violently suppressed but
did not resolve the problem.
So out of a first trauma came another : the Indian Act = the government decided
to modernize the Natives, turn them into farmers, factory workers etc.
Assimilation. Theoretically is was not programmed genocide, it was not
inhumane, but it was culture genocide. Worst aspect = Residential Schools :
church-run boarding schools that would civilize children by removing them from
their parents ; forbade speaking their Native language. Its after Confederation
(1876 : Confederation expands) and Northwest rebellion that they become part of
federal policy and operate mostly in the Canadian West (English). By 1920, over
80 of those schools existed. Declined in the 1960s, but the last one didnt close
until 1996 (in Touchwood Hills, SK).
When they closed survivors brought legal action against Canada. It was settled
out of court -> Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement : one of its
previsions was establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(established in 2008, delivered final report in December 2015). They adopted the
phrase cultural genocide after much debate. Term that has sparked controversy
: people made comparisons with the Holocaust. Thousand of children died in
those schools : so the term doesnt really matters, the facts do. Schools were sort
of like prison, students were almost like slaves -> Because the founding was so
bad, the students had to maintain the school. Disease was rampant
(tuberculosis : mortality rate 90 times higher than any other place in Canada) and
sexual abuse was widespread. There were also neutral and positive feedbacks
about the schools, but there are far many more people scarred and traumatized.
Scott knew a lot of this. 1879 : worked in Indian Fare, was in charge of the schools
during some years. How could he have done this work ? The late 19 th c. was fused
with the ideology of social Darwinism : theory of the vanishing race -> strong
survive, the weak perish : the First Nations would eventually just disappear. So
lets assimilate them into modern culture rather than just letting them die on
their own. The goal of Indian Act was to erase the culture of the First Nation so
that Canada would have no Indian problem. Scott himself says that he had to
remove the Indian problem from Canada. Scott didnt relish in his job, he had to
manage a very complex problem with limited founding, and he did believe in
education (a lot of people believed that Natives could not be educated).
Whats the path for a better quality of life for the First Nations ? Still a problem
today. Ignoring the native suffering is not an option.
The Madonna : ideology of the Vanishing Race. Its a Petrarchan sonnet.
Petrarch = Italian Renaissance poet. 14 lines, love poem, iambic pantameter,
abbaabba = octave + sestet cdecde or variation. Its a poem about love,
its focus is racial (mtissage : the baby is paler than she). Instead of being a
straightforward poem of love, its an ominous poem that promises the doom of
the tribe. Theres a volta : the poem turns from one subject to another
(woman/child). The poem has a conceit (concept, idea) : a metaphor, striking
comparison between one thing and another. Here, it is a comparison with Mary
15

and Jesus. The mixed child is salvation. The father is the higher being outside the
picture -> the white man.
The piper of Arll : allegory. The piper represents the poet. Its about poetry.
Poetry is the expression of longing for security and home, perfect correspondence
between oneself and a lover, fantastic wonders,... But also a beautiful treasure : a
gem that endures beyond the death of its maker. Arll is a fictional place. The
setting has old world Scottish aspects. The place of the poem is a middle spot :
where the land meets the sea. Beach = place of longing for the sea. Sea
associated with God, infinite, eternity. Anadiplosis = words are repeated in a
chainly fashion (the last word of one line is repeated at the start of the next line).
Attracts the attention on the longing relation between land and sea. Arll sounds
like it could be the abbreviation of our land.
to reave = take by force and carry off. Images of the trees as warriors reaving
-> poetry is wonder, treasure taken from a moment and carried into the future. It
happens at sunset= transition life/death. L.27-32 : first song, enjambment with
the stanzas (so particularly noticeable), the piper answers to the other melody ->
poetry is an exchange between self and community : individual and ship.
The ship leaves, the poet is mad with grief and breaks his pipe. But then he
repairs it, and plays as he never played before. Alliteration in the stanza (p) and
paradox (immortal for an hour) + ontological climax. Then the piper dies, the ship
returns and brings his body on board. The sailors sing the true tune that he
played for them, not an alien song. The community has received his art and
perpetuates it. Theme of treasure : the pipers art has survived his death. Poem
ends with imagery of treasure (ship sinks). leaves is a syllepsis (or word play) :
the seaweed appear silver / leaves of the book of poetry. Form: literary ballad,
ballad stanza (4 lines in iambic tetrameter : abab). In its form and story, alludes
to the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.
Scott stays true to the Confederation movement (English model) and engages in
the theme of poetry, its nature. Were seeing Scotts idealism in this poem. Scott
is idealistic, but then a civil servant by day. Maybe his idealism sustained him ?
Height of land : idealistic poem also. Poses the spiritual question of what lies
beyond our natural life, and our knowledge. Again, not much happens (restraint).
Temporal progression (starts at night, sees dawn coming) : doubt and wonder ->
hope and belief. Setting : watershed spot but also place of prophecy and
inspiration (// Mt Sinai). Spot where certainty ends and speculation begins. The
meter starts off variously but ends with sonorous iambic pentameter. Structurally,
built around repetitions. Has certain motifs : the gathering of the waters in their
sources for example. Signals the search for answers. Moves from statements to
questions.

Pauline Johnson / Tekahionwake (1861-1913)

She also performed poetry (elocutionist) and would wear a traditional Mohawk
dress for her recitations. A cry of an Indian wife : context = 1885 rebellion, first
published in Canada.
North-West Rebellion of 1885 :

Red River Rebellion (1869-70)

16

Disappearance of plains bison (1880 ca) : more settlers came, more

conflicts ; 1885 : North West Mount police created + railroad almost
complete
-> Natives were supposed to turn to farming ; Indian Agents were
supposed to teach them how to farm but didnt work out
Plains Cree (chief Big Bear) and Blackfoot (chief Crowfoot) formed
confederacy. Mtis (Dumont) brought back Louis Riel from exile. ; 1884 :
Riel prepared a petition (agile diplomat) for an agreement with the Indians
but the policy was taken over and led to violence
Battle of Duck Lake, 26 march
Frog Lake Incident, beginning of April : involved the Cree
3 columns of Canadian militia (generals Middleton, Otter, and Strange)
Battle of Fish Creek, end of April
Battle of Cut Knife Hill, 2 May
Battle of Batoche, 12 May : Riel was executed for treason -> Political
troubles : French Canada didnt support his execution (eventually he was
pardoned sometime after his death)

A cry of an Indian wife : in heroic couplets. Like iambic pentameter, but the
lines rhyme. Form associated with noble poetry and drama in 18 th c. Restoration
(Alexander Pope for example). So announces that a nations fate is at stake.
Dramatic monologue : a lyric poem that foregrounds the speakers peculiar
character (lyric means only one character speaking) -> should we sympathize
with this character or not ? Perfected by Robert Browning (Victorian poet) :
Dramatic Lyrics (1842), Men and women (1855). His poems were first criticized
for being opaque but steadily won over critical admiration. Very famous, a lot of
Browning societies founded. Browning worked in the metrical tradition (iambic
pentameter, literary figures,) + was interested in society (attention to
individual perspectives + uses persona (poet invents a speaker, a mask, that is
not him) and irony.
6 phases in Johnsons poem, 10 lines parts : -> how does it show the speakers
thought process evolving ?

Beginning : dramatic scene, here is your knife, object emphasizes the

drama of the poem + foreign position for the reader (magazine read by
polite readership). Purpose : animate the feeling of warfare and selfdefense. Also something pathetic : we know the knife will face the guns.
-> who exactly are the speaker and the husband ? the Plains, Cree and
Blackfoot are Prairie nations, so why forest ? suggestion that other First
Nations joined the confederacy

First phrase that stops : yet stay ; poem can be read between go and
stay. Here, sympathizes the English rule. Polysyndeton : literary device
where you link many element with and. Union Jack = symbol of amiable
politics for Johnson. The British government is well meant. Anaphora
Curse that highlights the speakers trouble. The word fate concedes a
lot.

Take off from this idea of imperialism and exploration of the land ->
allusion to Canadas moto (from sea to sea). Grows indignant over the
displacement of aboriginal people. -> Anger, wants him to go again

17

Complication : gender. No one cares for the Indian wives. We can picture
Johnson reading newspapers and trying to think about what is not
represented. Self-pity quickly replaced by pity for her husband and nation.

Stay. Now she thinks about the wife of the white soldiers. She turns
between aggression and sympathy. But then the white women dont think
about her.

Decision to go and fight, anger.

Difficulty of the poem : final lines. Perhaps the white mans God : The end
was different in the 1st version. Irony that stems from the phrase white mans
God : does it really want a nation crushed ? Answer implied : no. So possible
sarcasm. The speaker is a mask, its a persona that Johnson uses so that we can
see a pathetic and pitiful character.
Character vacillation: should the nations rebell or submit ? should we sympathize
with the Indian wife or the white mens wife ? Johnson = Mohawk background
(her father was a Mohawk chief and she grew up in his home) and Ontarian, shes
torn in two.
Ojistoh : also dramatic monologue, heroic couplets. Imagery of the end :
wetness, coldness -> contrast red hands/purity. Contradictory imagery. Problem
of the poem = is she guilty or innocent ? Savage or honourable ? Here, the
woman is grabbing the knife instead of giving it to her husband. Historical poem :
Johnson does like Browning in referring to historical events, the 1600s here
(battle between Mohawks and ). Most of what we know about this war comes
from missionary Jesuit reports, who call those people savages. Johnson wants to
get beyond that, again, she wants to think about what is not being represented.
She shows that there are reasons for savagery. Johnson is wrestling with the
problem of violence laying in native history. Story = close to Judith. Again, torn
between sympathy and savagery.

Novel
An extended work of fiction written in prose. Don Quichotte (picaresque novel,
16th c), Arthurian romances. Developed in 18th-century England. Many subgenres
developed since then.

Epistolary novel
Historical romance
Victorian realist novel
Modernist novel

First Canadian novels.

-> Frances Brooke, History of Emily Montague, 1769 and John Richardson,
Wacousta, or the Prophecy : A tale of the Canadas (1832)
History of Emily Montague : First Canadian novel = written in Canada and set in
Canada. Second novel by the author, she was 45 when she wrote it, wife of an
Anglican minister. She spent 4 years in Quebec in the 1760s and had written a
complete draft of the novel when she left Canada. She was not the first novel
published in Canada though, it was published in London. It wasnt a bestseller,
like Clarissa for example, but it was a steady success. 4 English editions in pretty
18

short successions. Epistolary form. No single narrator, entirely letters. Its

dramatic in a sense because the reader sees more than some characters see. It
can be described as a novel of manners = realistic account of action and
conversation that describes the behaviour of a certain class. She belonged to the
upper middle-class and writes about it. The theme is love as the key to true and
happy marriage. Love is attraction between young lovers but its also what holds
society together : its charity, caring for ones aging mother, How can freedom
of emotion be reconciled with societys stability ? How can desires of young
lovers can be reconciled with the parents desires (arranged marriage) ?
Brooke engages sympathy from the reader towards the young lovers. But
remember, shes 45, she identifies with the mother who wants to protect her
daughter from heartbreak. Emily Montague -> Romeo and Juliette. Brooke is
signalling her theme : conflict of love and generations. Plot = marriage plot. 3
main marriage plots in the book. One of the characters is the core of the novel.
Core plot = Ed Rivers and Emily Montague. Rivers = mid twenties, upper class
but not richest guy either. His family has a small estate, and hes officer in the
English army. Reduced officer which means the seven-years war has ended so
officers have been dismissed and their income decreased. So he has some
dignity but he doesnt have a lot of money : his income is not enough to continue
to live in his manor with his family. So Ed emigrates to Canada. He meets Emily
but shes already engaged to Sir George Clayton. They fall madly in love. Arabella
Fermor has also come to Canada and shes a friend of Emily and Rivers : she
helps giving the letters. Arabella also eludes to Alexander Popes The rape of the
lock -> flirtatious young coquette.
Their love faces 3 obstacles and they tell us about love as Brooke sees it. Theyre
each represented by a character. First : Sir George Clayton. He represents cold
insensibility, lack of emotion warmth, greed. Rivers initially decides to become
Claytons best friend so that he can still be close to Emily. But then he realises
Clayton is an arrogant superficial fool who doesnt even love Emily, he just wants
to possess her. Rivers has a heart overflowing of emotion // his name. And
Clayton is a cold man, of clay. Emily grows doubtful about her engagement with C
but the Melmoth (the guardians) are pressing her to marry him (he would allow
her to have a coach led by 6 horses : ultimate class status). Emilys life is at
stake, divorce is not an option. Sensibility = feeling , but hard to define, beauty
but also suffering, aptitude for disinterest but also love yourself. Sensibility can
be exhibited towards other people but also objects, of art or nature.
Second antagonist : Mme Des Roches, a beautiful widow from somewhere
downriver Quebec. River absents himself from Quebec and meets Des Roches.
She has a distinctive solitude (beautiful but wild place). A hermit lives not far
from her (tragic love story). Rivers visit these two when he himself is suffering
from a broken heart. But if he married Mme Des Roches, he would lose his native
language. Extreme passion is not the answer, its not intense individual anguish.
This is where the book starts to command respect by the nuances of love it
shows.
3rd and most serious obstacle : obedience to ones parents. Mrs Rivers embodies
that danger. Rivers and Emily wants to have a farm together, even if they are
poor. But Eds sisters asks him to go back to England for their mothers sake.
Lucy Rivers explicitly says that if Emily keeps him in Canada, it would be like
planting a dagger in Mrs Rivers heart. Emily doesnt want him to make that
choice so she goes back to England even if that means being poor, he follows her.
19

They still have their plan to marry but theyll have to sink into poverty. Prof. wont
tell us the end but surprise at the end linked with who is Emily.
Brooke treats Canada as a country of young freedom. Its a place of wild beauty,
where young people fall in love. But the answer is growing up and going home to
take your place in England. Canada is where adolescent problems are being
worked out, but the resolution happens in England.

Major John Richardson, Wacousta : first Canadian novel in the sense that he was
born in Canada. He believes himself to be Canadas first and only author. Book is
set in 2 places : Detroit and Michillimackinac ? -> both are now in Michigan but at
the time, 1763, it was under the control of Britain. Also set in the 1760s (ripe
decade for describing this new country). But Richardson writes in the 1780s.
Hes interested in this decade for the birth of this new country, but he sees it
differently than Brooke : a mysterious land where opposites collide, wilderness
and order specifically. Brooke is interested in the happy middle-way between
extremes. Richardson has a more Romantic vein, extreme clash of opposites.
Richardsons father served in the British military and her mother was half native
(or half French were not sure), she came from the culture of the fur trade we saw
with Thompson. Richardsons story is based on his own family history : his
grandfather was a Scot who emigrated. From his parents, Richardson heard
stories of this time. Richardson became a soldier, moved to London and tried to
become an author. He wrote Wacousta there, also published in London. Moved
back to Canada, failed to promote his novel, then went to NY.
Also a novel but historical romance. Modelled on Walter Scott, who researched
medieval history of Brittan and wrote tales based on it + his novels were
published in triple-deckers. Wacoustas setting : set at the time of British
conquest, during the Pontiac Rebellion (chief of Ottawa First Nation who led an
uprising against Britain after the seven-year war : 8 ports are captured, then after
2 years a peace is negotiated). Book opens on a chapter about geography : he
describes Canada for his English readers. The setting is romantically described : it
gives the setting of confrontation between order and wilderness. Tries to give a
sense of mystery. Hes playing on his readers ignorance about Canada : he
plunges them into an unknown setting. He plunges them into the unknown then
drags them slowly to known territories -> extreme and remote points. Mystery
is a key element in the setting of the book and in the plot (even a murder
mystery).
2 questions in the plot : theres a bridge over a little stream, known as the
bloody bridge -> what happened at bloody bridge ? we dont get an answer
until the end of the novel. The first time you read the book, youre confused.
Then the second time you understand more. Second question : who is Wacousta ?
It sounds like First Nation, but its not. Col. De Haldiman is commander of fort
Detroit and is given strict order than no one will enter or leave without his
express permission. But one night, a stranger manages to enter and right into his
bedchamber, then to leave unnoticed. Who is this stranger ? Wacousta of course.
But we dont know it right away. We first think hes Native from his name but then
we think hes French Canadian, he appears to be a Frenchman who went native.
Hes dressed as a native but speaks French. He appears to be a diabolic More
(category of the other). At another moment, hes described as a tall Indian
warrior, then hes described as French. But at the end of the novel, you realize

20

hes in fact an Englishman. Savagery is not external. Its lodged in every human
heart.

Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861-1922), The Imperialist

Realist novel (sometimes called Victorian novel). Difficult novel, but really worth
the read. Sometimes called first (really good) Canadian novel. Her prose is
Victorian, aesthetically rich, with long sentences. Her characters are
psychologically sophisticated. 1880s = birth of psychology as a science ->
increase in psychological reality in novels. Plot = complex and gripping. Writing =
realist. Successful career in journalism (like a lot of writers at the time). On one
side, she embodies liberal ideas (the new man) but on the other hand, she had
conservative positions towards the British Empire. Goal of realist/Victorian novel
= discover truths not in a secrete vision but in the plain daylight of the busy
world. Because of this realism, her novels aimed to be historically panoramas and
tell us a lot about the world that she saw. Her goal is to give a full accurate
portrait of Canada at the time.
Duncan was born in Ontario in 1861. She published poems around 1880 in
newspapers : sentimental pieces that she later tried to forget. She threw herself
into journalism, went to New Orleans as a reporter when she was 23 : she goes
alone, as part of her career. Signs many of her pieces using a male pseudonym,
Garth Grafton. In 1880, when shes 27, she gets this amazing deal : she
convinced a newspaper (Montreal Star) to finance for her a world tour. The globe
can be circumnavigated quite quickly, without leaving the British Empire ! +
Shes a young unchaperoned woman. She wrote her first book out of this first
experience (A social departure, 1890) -> big success : shes witty and funny +
telling her readers about the British Empire. Pirated in the US.
In her lifetime, its her best-selling book. She met a man during her travels, who
began chasing her until London where he asked to marry her : she agreed. Coats
was a journalist in India, so she moved there. It caused a problem for her
Canadianism. She was not a regarded as a Canadian author until the 1960s
because she got involved in British politics in India. She wrote 22 books and was
successful. She was one of the first Canadian authors to have a literary agent.
The worlds first literary agent was A.P Watt. She travelled regularly to London,
sometimes came back to Canada. They never had children (she had one still-born
child). Some say that The Imperialist was written because of her grief. During
WW1, she retired, went back to England. She died in 1922 and was buried in
England. Follows the pattern of Haliburton.
Realism = describes ordinary experience. Complex characters. In Wacousta, there
was a complex villain but he was the extreme of everything evil. Duncan avoids
this kind of extremes. She wants to portray a whole society, thats where the
realist novel differs from the novel of manners. It reacts to historical romance and
goes back to the novel of manners but expands its scope. Its written for all
classes, because the reading public has expanded. But the attention to details
has also a symbolic significance for her.
Theme = love. 1st chapter presents this theme, described as a series of
concentric circles : on the personal level, on the family level, and on the level of
the country. 2 Marriage plots but also a lager patriotism plot. More specific theme
= political issue of preferential trade. Idea around the 1900s, free-trade idea :
the British Empire should strengthen itself by removing barriers between colonies
21

inside the Empire. The theme of love and preferential trade come together in a
problem in the plot : what should be the relation between Canada and the Empire
? Solution that Duncan sees = the British Empire is a kind of family and she
wants it to function as one. But she sees political and economical strategies
sabotaging this idea : a tragic failure. Takes place in Branford, Ontario (but she
calls it Elgen bc Branford is in Elgen county) but she uses it as a microcosm for
Canadian society. Forard-looking industrial town, characterized by politics and
religion. Across from it is one of the oldest First Nations reserve. The plot falls into
3 parts :

First Part

Career of Lorne Murchison as a lawyer, serving the cause of Imperial unity (he
has a sister Advena) : first part of the book = trial -> shows Lorne leaving
childhood and entering his profession. He finishes first in his class in Law School
(one of the best possible profession at the time) then joins a law firm as a junior
partner. A young clerk is accused of helping thieves rob a bank, and the town
believes him innocent while the evidence are against him. But Lorne succeeds
brilliantly and attracts the notice of a powerful Toronto lawyer, Mr. Cruickshank.

Middle Part

Lorne is transferred to London to advocate for a trade project. But him and C are
treated as near-colonials. Theyre dismissed as being ignorant lumberjacks from
the colony. They still put their case and Lorne is inspired by England. He sees in
its poverty great chance for Canada to help. He takes up this larger issue of
imperial unity and brings this message back to Canada. He meets Alfred in
England (Alfred is always the name of a villain in Canadian literature). And Alfred
is educated but idle, which amazes Lorne. He invites Alfred to come to Canada.

Last part

Election story. Lorne runs for the liberal party and the fight is very close, he gives
passionate speeches about preferential trade and the Empire. He campaigns in
the local reserves. He wins by a very slim margin. But his opponents contest the
win, they accuse him of corruption : they say that the Native voters were
compelled to vote. Lornes victory is annulled and when he tries to run again, his
party doesnt want him to because he was too passionate about Britain. Hes
attacked for his imperialism. So Lorne is defeated by another candidate.
The pattern here is tragedy. Duncan sides with her protagonist, she believes in
Lornes ideals. So when he fails, were meant to feel sympathy and regret. Which
is a clever way to communicate your politics. Theres the plot of Lornes career
and then the romance plot. Lorne falls in love with Dora and Advena falls in love
with Hugh. Dora belongs to the opposite side of the political spectrum
(conservative). And Advena falls in love with a young minister. -> Psychological
sophistication. The romance plot is not just relief from the politics. It lays bare the
private motivations that affect public careers. It shows Lorne to be a young man
and trusting, idealistic lover, taken advantage of by Dora (shallow and
calculative). Lornes dissatisfaction in love (Dorna says no) leads him to grow
more passionate about politics. He also falls into the mistake of mixing his private
interest with his public duties. He hears that Doras father is subsidizing shipping
lines between Britain and Canada and Lorne immediately thinks of how he can
help (-> political corruption).

22

Advena never makes that mistake. Where Lorn fails, she succeeds. Hugh and
Advena marry : he was from Scotland so they realize this ideal of the Imperial
family. Rich allusion throughout the book to Julius Caesar (Shakespeare play) :
play that advocate republicanism. Lorne is betrayed by Dora and his political
party, like Caesar.

Hugh MacLennan (1907-90), Two Solitudes

Theme = duality and unity of Canada. Its at the same time two countries, and
one country. Like 2 rivers joining, separating, then joining again. So paradox of
love : two people are separate and theyre joined. In the mid 20 th century, the
emphasis is on the 2 cultures of French and English (now, we know it was
multicultural). The title comes from a work by Rainer Maria Rilke. In this work, he
wrote love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each
other.
Setting in 2 locations : one rural, one urban. The town of Saint-Marc des Erables
(fictional place), Quebec countryside. Near St-Lawrence river, small village, with
big church. Typical small Quebec town. Then city of Montreal, represented as the
cultural heart of Canada. From WWI to WWII. Begins in 1917, ends in 1935. Period
in which Canada emerges as a modern independent nation : transition away from
being a part of Britain.
2 protagonists stand out, father and son : Athanase Tallard and Paul, his son.
Athanase is a wealthy old French Canadian patriarch. His name alludes to
Athanasius of Alexandria (a father of the Christian church). Descendent of an old
noble family in France. Hes figures metaphorically as this towering maple tree :
hes tall, beautiful, strong, rooted deep in the land, noble, embodies the character
of his people. He owns the largest estate in the parish and has several servants
(traditional order). His economic character is pre-modern : his land is farmed, and
he derives most of his revenues from a bridge thats on his property. This
economic practice is feudal. He studies law and is member of Parliament in
Ottawa. He represents all French Canada : rural, opposed to modern industry,
religious, Hes also an old man : 2 wives an 2 sons, one from each wife. First
wife (French Canadian): mother of Marius, fiery young man. Second wife
(Anglophone, half his age) : mother of Paul. Paul is a 7 year old boy at the
beginning of the novel. Hes bilingual, grows up and ends the novel at 29. Paul is
more or less a contemporary of the author. Athanase has led a life of wealth and
privilege, is a Member Parliament, is rooted in his land >< Paul : poverty
(Depression), works several jobs then settles for one, has to find his place in this
new world. Allusion to Odyssey : search for home. As Athanase falls, Paul rises.
At root, its a story about modernisation. Quite traditional form, kind of like a
realist novel. But TI was against modernisation ; here, faith is placed in the future.
Modernity is seen as unavoidable. The conflict that underlies the novel is the
collision between old and new ways of life. This conflict is played on economy,
war and love. Economy : what gets the plot going. The town is in debt because of
its new big church. Athanase is faced with this difficult question : should he allow
the construction of a power plant on his land ? True dilemma. On the one hand, it
would stimulate local economy. On the other hand, it would attack the
agricultural and religious identity. Huntly McQueen is a powerful English Canadian
man of finance who lives in Montreal and pushes this power plant on Athanase,
he calls it inevitable (name -> predatory and tyrannical), heartless modern
23

capital but conservative in his manners ; Father Beaubien, priest in St-Marc,

opposed the factory plant. Hed be an oak tree metaphorically, hes the religious
leader. Athanase decides to build the power plant -> antagonism of the church.
Athanase is in a battle that he cant win so he is progressively worn down. He is
eventually ruined and loses everything to Mc Queen. Because of this ruin, his
sons have to work for themselves and have no inheritance. In the end, Paul
settles on a job and wants to be a writer.
Then theres war. Conscription crisis of 1917. Many have died in WWI so Military
Service Act (Conscription bill) is passed. Beaubien represents the typical French
Canadian view against conscription. Athanase supports the conscription, speaks
in favour of it, says its necessary. But Marius is opposed to it, he starts his own
political career. Another failure for Athanase : hes been the public voice for
conscription but his authority is undermined by his own son (who is forced
ultimately to join the army). >< Paul voluntarily joins the army.
Love : 2 marriages constrated. Athanases marriage to Catlyn (second wife), their
marriage fails (Catlyn cheats on him) >< Paul and Heather, marry happily.

Sinclair Ross, As for me and my house, 1941

Were moving to modernism. Modernism = widespread movement in literature
and the arts, 1914-1965, foregrounding a break with 19 th c. .WWI = most
important even in modernism, because it was a mass-scale annihilation. Faith in
institutions was put in doubt : suspicion that tradition and values had caused the
war. Sense of alienation, rejection of social world. Shift towards the insights of the
individual.
Literary modernism : no single modernist has all these characteristics:

Rupture in content (rejection of old morality, orientation towards new

knowledge and technology -> To the lighthouse, Woolf, anthropological
accounts of humanity -> The Golden Bowl, Fraser : description of
Christianity as rooted in pagan and barbaric traditions). + Alienation of the
individual
Modernist contrast : modernists often show their historical rupture by
updating an old story, myth. Showing contrast between present and
past. Ulysses, James Joyce.

Experiment in form : found ways to renovate literature, make it new.

Free verse in poetry. Fragmented forms of literature (The wasteland, T.S
Eliot), experimenting with new techniques (stream of consciousness,
Woolf)

Irony

Existentialism : focused on the existence of the individual in a chaotic

world. Before, the focus was on essence in philosophy : here, the focus is
on existence. It informs Rosss novel.

Naturalism : literary movement inspired by Darwinism (survival of the

fittest)

24

Aesthetics : Turning to art and the individual as the answer to existential

problems. Even when arts represents horrible things, its still noble in
pursuit.

Sinclair Rosss story returns us to the problems of the conditions of Canadian

literature (absence of publishing until the 1960s). Many think My House the most
important Canadian novel before WWII. But Ross didnt identify as a writer.
Born in Saskatchewan, son of homesteaders : parents separated when he was
young. Raised in a farm by his mother. Dropped out of school then worked for a
bank (Royal Bank of Canada). Went to Winnipeg, then Montreal. Retired at the
age of 60. Served in WWII. After his retirement, moved to Spain then returned to
Canada at the end of his life. Died in Vancouver. Was gay, never married or had
children. First story published in a magazine : already, he had the theme of the
unhappy couple in an isolated prairie farm. Won a prize : his writing is being
shaped to the institution of modernism (people who judged him were
modernists). But no popular success. Was refused in a lot of magazines and was
accepted in Canadian journals, including the Queens Quarterly; Published 12 of
his stories, that were about heroic determination that keeps the prairie alive.
As for me published in NY in 1941. You can sense the impact of this
development on his text : its about a town in a prairie, but the region is never
named. Its ambiguously called the Middle West (Americans would call it the
Mid West, Canadians The Prairie). No commercial success, wasnt really
noticed. Ross applied for a grant, Guggenheim award, in 1941 -> The Canada
Council wasnt there yet (supports Canadians authors). But did not get it and
then joined the army.
As for me was kicked off in 58 (48 ?) : an edition launched a New Canadian
Library, series that wanted to prove that Canada had a literature. As for me was
one of the first 4 stories. Ever since, it was quite successful. Ross wrote some
later novels but they disappointed. Ross never left the bank and continued to
identify as a banker, he thought he did not have much talent. 69 : a magazine
editor asked him to write a story for a Prairie edition thing and he refused. But
there were factors other than his talent that stood in his way for the GG award.
Theme of the book : humanity persists despite the universe (-> existentialism),
continues to pursue love etc even though the world is random and chaotic.
Confrontation town / wind that tries to knock it down. The universe is described
as inhospitable, unearthly (description of the earth as a moon). Pure chance
rules. Humanity is in 2 places : the schoolhouse and Philips drawings. Both these
things are tiny structures of human being that stand against the destructive
universe. The narrator imagined the land to be hostile, but its an illusion, its
simply indifferent, serene. It leaves all human thoughts or feeling as an illusion.
Yet we have no choice but to cherish those illusions.
This is not really a view of the universe that people have now. Its linked with the
30s : orthodox beliefs are torn down by science (evolution, age of the earth,).
WWs have ripped down social order. Ross wrote this book after WW1 and just
before WW2.
Plot : what happens ?

Trying to grow a garden

Buying a house and taking in a stray dog
Steves adoption : dont really know his origin, or even his real father
25

Climax : Philips affair with Judith (we can be suspicious about it, but it
becomes quite clear it is real) + adoption of her baby

A couple comes into a town in spring, leaves next spring, and try to make this
town a home based on Philips job (minister). Their effort to make a living is
based on hypocrisy. This gets resolved because they leave in the end, and leave
the Church too.
-> People trying to establish a household + struggling marriage (as for me / and
my house -> binary system : her and Philip) + married couple striving to
become a family.
Aspect of creation of art = fundamentally human. Philips art + creating a family
= form of creation.
Story of the formation of Canada. Arrival of a miraculous child // Christmas story,
Bible. The narrator says shes a gruesome old woman and that she had a stillborn. Ultimately she gets what she wants. Last words = I want it so. What
drives the novel is the threat on their marriage : Paul attracted to the narrator,
Philip and Judith etc But by sheer strength of character, the narrator manages
to hold her marriage. Barren couple receiving a child outside of wedlock //
Christmas. BUT this child is not miraculous, its adulterous. The narrator mentions
Christmas at some point in her diary + they dont find a place at the inn (//
Christmas).
Why reanimating this old story, especially when Philip wants to leave the
Church ? -> Modernist contrast : we can see the differences by contrast.
Benevolent force >< Reckless natural world.
Judith : in the Bible, her story is about Israel being threatened by an enemy force.
Judith = widow of Israel, walks out of town and offers herself to the conquerors,
gets the chief drunk and cuts off his head. She sacrifices herself for the nation //
Judith in the novel : the narrator heartlessly says that shes glad Judiths dead, we
feel for her. She saves Philip from blame -> Novel leads us to admire selfless
behaviour : the narrator taking care of a child thats not her own for example.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Final exam = 28 april, 6pm. 3 parts : 1 = QCM (30 points) -> sometimes
passages of the readings, 2 = (30 points) passage identification : author, title,
comment on the significance of the passage (5 choices, and well chose 3), 3 =
essay (3 thematic questions : chose one) (40 points) -> talk about 3 different
works.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pratt and Klein

Pratt = born in 1882, but considered a Canadian modern poet. Was a near
contemporary of the Confederation poets. Strongly influenced by what influenced
the Confederation poets (grew up with Victorian poetry). Raised Christian (father
= methodist minister), but knew a crisis of faith at university (exposure to
Darwinism). Canadas leading poet from 1920 to 1950. Frye and Brown, literary
critics, considered Pratt the best. Pratt was one of the very few poets published
by the MacMillan Company in Canada. Until 1960 publishing Literature in
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Canadian is not very profitable. MacMillan have a schoolbook market, but

because of prestige they published a few poets (even if they lost money on
them). Pratt belonged to a Toronto culture of poetry (why Frye and Brown also
belonged to) >< Smith = part of Montreal group. Pratt went on to write epic
poetry : long poems. Hes a transitional figure : on the one hand, he respects
tradition but on the other hand, he embraces innovation. Modern science,
especially the theory of evolution but never really abandoned his religious
upbringing. Experimented with form. Continued to work with meter and rhyme.
The Truant : dialogue between 2 paradigms. Each character represents a certain
view of the world. Early 20th century science (1st part of the poem) >< humanistic
tradition (2nd part) -> matter/mind determinism/free will. Pangandrum = mock
name for any tyrant. Hes associated with death, he possesses the power to kill.
He sentences the Truant to death. Hes the voice of pure matter : everything
disintegrates until all you have is dust. Then the Truant is knowledgeable,
conscious, wilful. Hes the rebel who wont submit. He defies the role thats been
given to him. Hes feeling, knowing, self-sacrificing. Hes going to die but hes
free to believe and act as he chooses. He has the freedom to define himself, even
though hes mortal. The poem presents the human mind as a form that should be
explicable in terms of modern science, but is not. Theres a narrator and a story,
but the story is quite brief. Theres a trial : prosecution, then defence.
What are they fighting over ? Its a struggle to find humanity. Right from the
beginning : what have you there? What is this species ? -> A person. But what
is a person ? The rest of the poem debates this answer. The prisoner is presumed
to know himself, and define himself. The P asks about his ancestors, and the
truant answers with chemicals. Humanity = elements, molecules, compounds,
Immediately theres a problem with this definition. The P says hell analyse the
prisoner himself. Hes looking at the spark that makes human what they are. So
the master of rebels defines the humanity chemically and the P continues in this
line, with biological terms. Then second definition of humanity : as a subjective
state, of feeling, willing, knowing, that cant be reduced to matter. Will cant be
reduced to mere matter. Pratt turns the tables with a classic philosophical
question (if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it exist ?) and
switches perspectives. Constellations, stars,. Are kown from one point of
perspective and vary with the viewer. To be human is to suffer pain and hate, feel
joy, love, And ultimately to experience freedom. Polysyndeton at the end of the
poem (andandand) which puts emphasis. Old battle freewill ><
determinism.
The poem has rhythm and rhyme but its hard to say what exactly it is. Most of
the rhymes come in pairs, then there are triple rimes (usually, its a warning or
signal, even a mockery). Pratt is mixing up rhymes in a free and unpredictable
way (some rhymes are separated). Line length: the lines vary from diameter(2
feet) up to hexameter (6 feet), which comes at the end of the poem. Hes alluding
to crucifixion = even when death is certain, humans still try to affirm their ideas.
The variety of line length and unpredictability of the rhyme enact freedom. There
are 2 sides but many voices (4 voices : the P, the narrator, the truant, and the
master of rebels ?). This multiplicity of voices adds to the definition of humanity :
one of the strengths of the poem is that it approaches the complexity of the
problem with these different voices. Who wins though ? Theres no final verdict.
But we can hear the authors voice in the Truant voice, the voice of humanity. The
P is with is very name mocked and undone.

27

Portrait of the Poet as a Landscape : also comes around the theme of nothing is
known without a knower. Approaches the theme of self-deprecation as a moral
practice. Its good to diminish yourself, not to boast. Its about humility, selfeffacement, dissolution in the admiration of others. If poets are prophets of
modern time, they should give this lesson of humility. Its about the poet and
society. The poem alludes to 2 works : James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a
young man, and Milton Lycidas. Joyces novel is a kunstroman : artist coming of
age. So Pratt is going to examine this problem of the artist, separated from this
very society which he wants to serve. Miltons poem is a justification of poetry : it
takes the occasion of a drowning to question the value of the work of writing. The
poet grieves and in his despair, he receives the answer that theres immortality in
art. This poems ends also in a drowning (bottom of the sea).
[completer)
2nd part of poem = poet falling in love with language, sexual erotic terminology.
Part 4 = conspiracy theory, societys out to get the poet. Part 5 = back to
answers. What is it that drives the poet ? Is it fame ? But he rejects that answer.
What drives the poet is unhappiness. Part 6 = in the profs reading, solution to
ones own insignificance. Praise of the other, and not of oneself. Rewrites the
story of Adam, a selfless wonder. The poet merges with the world in that
selflessness. At the end of Miltons poem, Lycidas is redeemed and gains eternal
life in Paradise. But here, it ends at the bottom of the sea. We dont see beyond
death. Humble, moral end (some say cynical).
The Rocking- chair : tribute to French Canada. Not an insight view of French
Canada, but admiration of it from the outside. Poem of praise and admiration for
the perpetuity and endurance of French Canada. FC is like a rocking chair : it
moves but never changes. Description of sounds of the rocking chair + the
rocking chair measures time in a more careful way than the clock. The rocking
chair is like music, beautiful sound that measures time. Goes through several
members of a family. Rocking chair = like a grandfather, harmless. But goes
further than the national family. Allusion to Cartier (St Malo). Last metaphor :
rocking chair compared to a ballad. Form = 4 stanzas. 4= stable, square number.
Rocking rhyme scheme : abab cdcd. Meter varies (not only iambic pentameter).
Not easy to hear the rhymes at first.

F.R Scott
We emphasized existentialism in Ross. Pratts poem speaks to modernist rupture.
The rupturing of traditional cosmology. Portrait of the Artist as a Landscape :
modernist contrast. Smith = free verse imagism. Poem that takes an object that
would be suitable for Confederate poems but not metrical rhyming lines, short
lines instead. No explicit lyric speaker. This shows us experimentation in action.
Noctambule : we could sum it up by saying I was sleepwalking : theres a
contrast between whats happening now and what was happening then. The
speakers woken up and realize that illusion existed and that he has extirpated
himself from it. Conceit = modern life is a tragic play like Othello, a sleepwalking,
a society fascinated by war (like in Othello). The moon is a prop, a part of the
play, and the different characters are like different characters of a play (the lion,
shell-shock) + it ends badly. If modern reality is saturated with deceiving
substitutes, then the role of poetry is to reveal those.

28

Scott : imagism and free verse. Imagery = any feature of a poem that appeals to
one of the senses. Usually sight. Appeals to imagination and memory, pictures
vary with the reader. But the image is a concrete part of the poem (>< symbol :
abstract). The definition of the term ranges from this narrow sense to a broad
category that includes figures of languages. Imagism then is a modernist poetic
movement that flourished in 1912-1917 or 2nd half of he 20th c ?. Initiated by
Pound. He defined imagism as a trimming away of superfluous elements in
poetry. So minimalism. Short poems, images are focused, no lyric speakers or
narrators. Its one instance of modernist experimentation. Its aim is to make the
reader feel the cutting down of prior conventional elements. Clich metaphors
(like love is a flower) are cut down for example. -> What is a superfluous word ?
A generation of writers learns again what previous poems already know : good
poems dont have superfluous words. Theres a subjective element to imagism.
When reading an imagist poem, were looking at an original form in which every
word counts. Free verse : abandons conventions forms of meter and rhyme in
favour of other forms. Its not the absence of form entirely. The principle of
structure can be anything.
Scott, North stream : poem that portrays the quiet purity of Canadian nature.
Challenge is : chat structure and meaning can we find in those brief lines ? 3
verses, but careful workmanship. Between 2 and 6 number of syllables. Stant
rhymes. Half-rimes : words can sound similar in some other way than a perfect
rhyme. In the poem, 5 of the 9 lines have a long e vowel. Why this vowel ? e
is in a sense the purest vowel, its a produced at an extreme position of the
human face. Theres no sound thats more e than e. The 1 st half of the words
rime : sort of alliteration. 2 types of alliterations : consonance (repetition of
consonant sound) and assonance (repetition of vowel sound). What images ?
Water firstly. No grass is growing me: pairing away of extraneous and
superfluous elements. Theres no grass in the poem, feel of cutting back. Why is
the stream speaking in the 1st person ? its an instance of deixis (situation in
which the grammar of the sentence refers to the present situation). It invites us
to identify the stream as the poem : like the stream, the poem runs silently...
Poetry was growing more intellectual with modernism, it was about studying in
classrooms, not reciting. More academic and elite. So the poems runs silently. It
moves over the page like water over sand, and runs over obstacles. It comes to
rest where the stream goes to rest, in the dark pool.
Scott redefines poetry as being akin to a north stream : its uncontaminated by
inessential characteristics, clean. It looks like a stream running down also (the
general form of the poem). There is a continuity and similarities between
Confederation poems and Modernism. Poetry is still seen as springing from the
character of the land. // Pitfalls Dream River. There might be an illusion to Yeats
at the end of the poem : Yeats had a theory of thought that focused on foam.
Our daily thought is only a line of foam : ideas are passed from generation to
generation according to him (Spiritus mundi).
Laurentian Shield : Not purely imagist. Its geographical, about the land, the
region of the Shield. Its not about the beauty of the land. Its more about
industrial development. Its modern in different ways, in its content for example :
steel, monopolies, machines (airplane),...
NB : Pratts last image in Noctambule probably refers to the Coventry Cathedral
bombing.

29

Geographical poem about development, but also socialism. Scott became a

socialist in the 30s (leading Canadian socialist). Founded the League for Social
Reconstruction in 32 = early version of a think tank, 70 to 75 people (most of
them academics) that developed policies on matters of political economy during
the Depression. Wanted to find ways to counter act the suffering of the
Depression. + Redress the social disparities. Scott also founded the Canadian
Commonwealth Federation in 32 : political party this time. Turned into the NDP
later on (social political party in Canada). Theme = expansion of modern
Canadian society into the North. He sees big businesses laying claim on lands,
but land will only be settled when a labouring class comes to populate it, he says.
Now the North is empty, but soon its history will be written by the people working
there. Socialism in the last words of the poem : hands (last grammatical subject
in the poem), synecdoche (part that signifies the whole). Hands = labouring
hands, workers. Scott lays emphasis on these people, not on the capitalists at the
top. History will be written by the people.
NB : Ross landscape is the same land as Thompson. But the First Nations are
erased in Ross novel (one of the weaknesses of modernism : didnt portray First
Nations). Experiences are different.
Conceit of the poem, extended metaphor: human industrial development is like
language. Development propagates itself across distance in waves, it fills space
with meaning. s is the perfect sound of inhumanity (snake, ice, wind) : so the
first language in the poem is no language, silence; The land is inarticulate. The
North might have a meaning but the land is endlessly repeating something that
we cannot hear : its a land of lakes, and rocks, with inhuman songs. older than
love : the earth has an old history that is not human. Section 2 : the silence will
change the language when technology lets humans settle the land. In the future,
or coming soon. Section 4 : figures current elements in the North as elements of
grammar : cabines are syllables (rudimentary structures), syllables are nouns,
steel connects things like syntax,... Section 5 = history of the North in a sequence
of speech act. Section 6 = language of life, ultimate point, hope of Scott. Takes
control away from the big corporations and write the history of the people. Starts
to become more musical, more meaningful and beautiful. Here the poems takes
part in its history : if development is language, then poetry plays a role in it.
Poetry can help populate the North.
Interesting things in form : hard to tell the form of the poem. Some wordplay. So
maybe technique = take words and find new meaning in them (arctic //
inarticulate) (technic : technique ? technology ?). Language is flesh and
roses : comes from an essay by Stephen Spender, The Making of a Poem
(1940s ? date not clear). Spender describes the process of writing a poem as
very difficult. Its one special moment of inspiration and long hours of working.
The line language... is not part of any published poem, its the example of a
poem that could be, a thought that Spender jotted down in his notebook. A
sudden gift of the mind, that could become a poem. Scott evokes the idea that
industry changes the land.

P.K Page guest lecturer

Got started in Montreal. She was a painter and had a 20-year period of silence
during which she painted. A lot of later writers went back to Page as an
inspiration (Phyllis Webb, Margaret Atwood). So shes a prominent figure in the
30

imagination of younger Canadian writers, women especially. First book published

in the 40s. She became a painter and drew sketches. Cry Ararat (60s) had her
drawings in it. She also wrote children books, a novella called The sun and the
Moon, journals,... So a lot of different things. She had a very long career :
published her first poem in 1946 (the Moth) and her last book of poetry in 2009.
Page wrote poems that wanted to inspire sympathy for under-represented groups
like stenographers. She didnt want to be accused to be sentimental about her
subjects, so she build up images, created dense layers of metaphors. But it was a
difficult style to maintain for her. She went to London and encountered the works
of Woolf. She says she opened it and that Woolf opened up a whole new world
to her. So shes inspired by this British female writer. It opens up her
imagination. Woolf awoke her to her experience as a woman (writer). She started
to think about modern art as well. She brought that modern sensibility back with
her in Canada and she thought about using that to talk about Canada. So shes
back in Montreal and her father said he would give her money if she wrote on a
monthly basis. Foundation of 2 little magazines (=not commercial, more humblelooking, self-published so spaces where writers could experiment new things and
express radical opinions) in 1941-42 : Preview and First Statement. So the literary
movement is consolidating.
Page got involved with Preview (like FR Scott and Klein), they were known to
write poetry like The Stenographers. Existential, psychological, about
emotions,... Klein, Scott etc were a bit older and more academic. So Page started
to think about poetry in an academic way. She starts to feel shes falling behind,
they constantly talk about T.S Eliot,... T.S Eliot was an important poet and critic.
He wrote essays such as Tradition and the Individual Talent in which he said
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not
the expression personality, but an escape from personality. Then in Hamlet he
says the only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an
objective correlative; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of
events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion.
So you have something that represents the emotion without turning it loose.
Those 2 essays were very important to Page. She aims to convey an emotion that
is more universal, not just her own personal experience. The whole thing was a
reaction against romanticism.
From The Stenographers : no wind/for the kites of their hearts [...] and leave
them like rubbish. Sense of being barely anchored, of futility, lifeless,... Emotions
that come across in one image. they are taut as net curtains / stretched upon
frames : also emotions conveyed in one image. Military imagery (bivouac, white
flag,...) + paper, ice, eyes and breakage, snapping. Its a war-time poem (1942).
The stenographers copy things that are dictated, and were actively employed
during the war. marathon = alludes to the battle of Marathon. The idea of vision
is framing the whole poem. cracking, snapping = violent words. Eyes, snow,
war,... are intertwined. She ties together images in a very close succession. L.13 :
if they stop writing, the voice goes on like a dog in snow. The pencil is the sled.
The dog is the voice.
In the inch of the noon... : she makes us think in a backward way. Lunch break
is supposed to be a good thing. But this noon is a terrible calm that causes
anguish : their lives are so defined by the forced march that to stop it is like
having to stop their life. ... are invaders : lunch break = painful experience ?
but breaking a tongue also suggests breaking a silence. Their tongues are
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loosened in a violent way. That forced march is also conveyed by the meter : its
a constant thump. Anapests (2 weaks, 1 strong). Anapestic tetrameter is a kind of
meter that creates a thumping rhythm.
In their eyes I have seen... : shes talking about an eye. Image of stifling
claustrophobic confinement. Little circle going around and around, like their lives.
First time that an I enters the poem. So the speaker is looking very closely at
the stenographers. Its Pages method : examining very closely the things shes
writing about to have lots of details. Might suggest that her vision is also
confined.
1950 : She marries Arthur Irwin, important Canadian figure. He became a
diplomat, the High Commissioner to Australia. So they moved to Australia, then
to Brasil, and to Mexico. For more than a decade, they lived abroad. During this
time, writing became difficult, because she was away from her community of
poets but also because she had a lot of responsibilities as an ambassadors wife.
+ Aesthetic reasons : problems due to her limited vision that can only work so far.
She wrote about this struggle of limited vision. She starts then to draw and paint.
When she drew, she was able to convey the images that she couldnt make sense
of in her poems. So painting was more satisfying for her at this time in her life.
She didnt give up painting when her inspiration came back.
Lushness, life >< blankness, silence is a drama in her life but also the drama in
Stories of Snow. Vision related to imagination and memory. Fluidity in how she
slips from one image to the next : and, and, and,.... create the movement.
The rhymes also help in this slipping from one image to another, theyre not
always perfect (l.3-4 : snow-globes for example) but it moves the pace of the
poem. Its in iambic pentameter, but she speeds it up and slows it down
sometimes. // Stenographers : images everywhere, metaphors, fluidity. Stories of
Snow come from the area behind the eyes, the imagination. Imagination is
white, like snow, because it contains all colours. So stories about snow but also
coming out of the whiteness of imagination. Its contained and circular like in the
Stenographers.

Irving Layton
Critic of culture. Cultivated a role of enfant terrible. He troubled the complacency
of bourgeois society. A poems not good unless it troubles the reader. Born in
1912 in Romania, emigrated as a baby to Montreal. Grew up in the Jewish part of
Montreal (not English Protestant, not French Canadian). Raised in a strict Jewish
upbringing, became an outspoken atheist who attacked religion and any
oppressive beliefs. He liked Nietzsche, who was also a critic of culture.
WWII : he was concentration-camp material. So he writes poems about what if his
parents hadnt emigrated. He gravitated back towards hid Jewish identity that he
had rebelled against before. His later poems strive to understand the Holocaust,
where genocide comes from. He dissected the causes of genocide in the humans
heart, no through big historical and social explanations. A lot of his poems are
unflattering portraits of humanity. Theory of poetry -> the more we see our
faults, the less inclined we are to give these things free ray ?
Influence of Nietzsche : N saw the modern world (19 th c. Europe) as suffocated by
a false metaphysic. He says that God is dead. He wants to face Europe with its
hypocrisy. He was influenced himself by Schopenhauer (godless, irrational world
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full of suffering) but he was repelled by the pessimism implied by S. He rejected

his pessimistic position. He wanted to find a way to affirm life in his atheistic
paradigm. The solution he found was to discard orthodox religion (said Europe
just practiced religion but did not believe in it anymore) and replace it by art,
specifically tragedy. Tragedy possesses wildness, destruction, sorrow,... Criticized
modern religion and sciences as being 2 branches of the same tree : the rational
minds control of nature. 1st book = The Birth of Tragedy (1872). He outlines a
cultural anthropology = he surveyed history and culture of Europe and
interpreted the West. Theory of Ancient Greece : the tragedies of Ancient Greece
(Aeschylus, Sophocles) embodied 2 opposites human drive : the Apollonian
(dreams, reason, mind, beauty, order) and the Dionysian (wine, intoxication,
carnality, pleasure, wildness). The collision of these 2 opposites produced
tragedy.
Ancient Greece allowed for the free interplay of these drives. But the, with Plato,
reason came to dominate pleasure and passion. -> Dominating, oppressive
cultural atmosphere. Solution : return to this primal dynamic. Exposing ourselves
to the freedom of art.
The Birth of Tragedy : about poetry. Describes poetry and the poet. 1 st stanza =
simile that represents poetry -> pool. Like a pool poetry has its own substance
and reflects other things. Through poetry, we can experience love and power
without actually living them. Interplay of opposites : it is the world, and its not
the world. -> Nitzschian theory : art is the interplay of opposites. Then we talk
about the poet. In me nature... : in him, opposites join and fin their fruition. Tree
= tree of life. Fruition also suggests sex, reproduction of plants and animals, the
joining of different kinds of things. Hes speaking cosmologically in terms of life
and death, but also sexually. Verbs of exchange and interplay (swap, bandy ?).
This representation of the poet ends with the image of flame. The flame is a
symbol of the paradoxical flux : a flame is a thing that is not a thing, you can
perceive it and feel it but not grab it. Its flickering, constantly moving. Its hard to
draw a fire. This characterization contrasts with the image of the poem : pool.
Last line : chiasmus (I am their mouth / as a mouth I serve), he identifies
himself to a mouth, it brings to mind a statement from the Bible (Isaiah, ch.6 :
Isaiah is commissioned by God to go and prophesize, an angel puts a fire coal on
his tongue which purges his impurities).
The poem begins with the word and. Sounds like it could be the end of a poem,
a conclusion. + kind of a separation : (the world) and me (like the pool : its
separate but contains things). The poet lives and experiences but is also a
melancholic recluse who misses out on all the fun. Paradoxical figure : dead while
hes alive, because hes thinking instead of living. And unlike other people, his
words live on after his death. Other possibility : the first line links back to the title
-> The Birth of tragedy... and me : tragedy is the cause of happiness ->
contradiction. Tragedy is essential to what we are (Nietzsche).
Stanza 2 : principle of oppositions elaborated. Moths are both symbols of life and
death. Also, the garden : paradox in the flowering stone. The poet has created
this garden as a stool for the perfect Gods -> garden = tradition metaphor for
poetry (beautiful squares of flowers in language) + religious element : critique of
religion. The Gods are always pardoning and our blood is always against rebellion
: interplay. Hes creating a garden thats a home for the Gods -> Nietzsche :
humans create Gods, not the other way around.

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Stanza 3 : Opposition continues. quiet madman : oxymoron. Image of lying

under the trees (trees = life, lying there = death). Last image : why is the poet
sitting on a chair ? its theatrical. The poet is one who sits in the audience to
watch the great play of life. Theme of fire, also in the last lines (birthday
candles) : watching this play elevates us to a next phase of maturity.
Why 3 stanzas ? Traditional holy number. Number of synthesis (thesis antithesissynthesis). Poem rhymes selectively. Rhymes to emphasize fire. Layout = same in
each stanza. Left/Right : life/death, Apollo/Dionysos // back and forth of a flame.
Poem that jumps off of Nietzschian philosophy to describe poetry as tragic + as a
reactive combustion to conflicting elements.
FINAL : 1) Multiple choice (30 points), 2) Passage identification (30 points), 3)
Essay (40 points).
-> Examples of questions : slides on Mycourses.

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