“The Banner of England,” by Susanna Moodie

Moodie, Susan [Susanna]. “The Banner of England.” Amaranth 1.5 (May 1841): 151.

Many early magazines were composed of a mixture of original work and reprints from other magazines. In Canada, much of the reprinted material came from British or American sources, but not all. The following poem by Susanna Moodie was first published in Canada in Fothergill’s Palladium of British America, and Upper Canada Mercantile Advertiser (Toronto) on 24 January 1838 (during the Upper Canada Rebellion), and then in Lovell’s The Literary Garland (Montreal), from which it was taken for reprinting in the New Brunswick magazine, The Amaranth, in 1841. In “Reconstructing the Palladium of British America” (Papers of the Bibliographic Society of Canada 40.1 (2002): 7), though, Michael Peterson notes that although the poem “carried the inscription ‘For the Palladium,’ the poem was actually a slightly revised version of one she had included in Patriotic Songs (1831), a collection of seven songs with music that she co-wrote with her sister Agnes for J. Green of Soho, London, England.”

The Banner of England

“The Muse,” by Margaret Peake Benton

Benton, Margaret Peake. “The Muse.” The Tangent: An Annual (May 1929): 15.

Margaret Peake Benton was one of the most prolific contributors to Creative Young Canada, with 5 poems published there, one at least when she was as young as twelve. The following poem was published in the student magazine of the Ontario College of Art, The Tangent.

The Muse

Poetic biographies by May P. Judge

Judge, May P. Poetic biographies. Vancouver Poetry Society, 1919-1946: A Book of Days. Toronto: Ryerson, 1946. 11-14.

This delightful little book contains a history of the Vancouver Poetry Society from its inception in 1919 to the book’s publication in 1946; a series of short biographies of the more prominent members, not in poetic form; and a collection of poetry by some of the members. The unidentified narrator, who weaves members’ tales together, tells us that the “story of [the Society’s] foundation can best be told in the words of May Perceval Judge, one of the charter members” (1). At a meeting of the Society in October of 1918, less than a year after the Society was founded, May Judge presented a series of short biographical poems about the other members. The first was of Dr. Ernest Fewster, not only a founding member but the original instigator of the Society’s formation:

      
      A face of kindness.
      Long shaggy hair, that fingers oft run through.
      Brown eyes that hold the wonder of
      World within.
      Quick smile, which like the wind
      Breaks through the clouds of contemplative thought
      To spill aloud in laughter.
      

The second line was a cause of mirth, as Judge tells us: “After I had read the verse about him, there was a pause, and he asked pointedly, “Whose fingers?” “Yours, of course,” I said sharply, and then–everybody laughed” (11).

The rest of Judge’s poems follow here:

In response to these short poems, which appear to have found favour with their subjects, another member asked Miss Judge, “But what about one for you?” to which she replied, not surprisingly, that “someone else will have to write it” (14). She tells us that “less than half an hour afterwards, Bromley Coleman slipped a torn scrap of copy-paper into my hand. I made him read the lines aloud himself” (14):

 

“The Song of the Irish Mourner,” by Emily Elizabeth Beavan

“B., Emily E.” [Emily Elizabeth Beavan]. “The Song of the Irish Mourner.” The Examiner (Kilmore, Australia) February 1856. Rpt. Kilmore Free Press (31 August 1911) 1.

Here (a bit later than promised) is the second of the Emily Elizabeth Beavan’s poems sent to us by her great-great-granddaughter, Lyn Nunn.

The Song of the Irish Mourner

Light of the widows heart ! art thou then dead!
And is, then, thy spirit from earth ever fled?
And shall we, then, see thee and hear thee no more?
All radiant in beauty and life as before?

My own blue-eyed darling, oh ! why didst thou die?
E’er the tear-drop of sorrow had dimmed thy bright eye?
E’er thy cheek’s blooming hue felt one touch of decay,
Or thy long golden ringlets were mingled with grey?

Why, star of our pathway—why didst thou depart?
Why leave us to weep for thee pulse of the heart?
Oh ! darkened for ever, is life’s sunny hour,
When robbed of its brightest and lovliest flower.

Around thy low bier sacred incense is flinging,
And soft on the air, are the silver bells ringing;
For the peace of thy soul, is the holy mass said,
And on thy fair forehead, the blessed cross laid.

Soft, soft be thy slumbers, our Lady receive thee,
And shining in glory, for ever thy soul be;
To the climes of the blessed, my own gramachree,
May blessings attend thee, sweet Cushla Mabree!

“A Breath of the Woods,” by Lilian Leveridge

Leveridge, Lilian. “A Breath of the Woods.” In A Breath of the Woods. Ryerson Poetry Chapbooks #18. Toronto: Ryerson, 1926. 1. (Copyright 1926, but released in 1927.)

Ryerson Poetry Chapbooks are such beautiful little editions: paper-bound, but with lovely decoration on their first pages. Many of these would have been paid for by the authors. The series continued from #1 in 1925 to at least #184 in 1958, and includes a number of now-famous Canadian poets. I couldn’t resist posting the first page of Lilian Leveridge’s A Breath of the Woods to share an example of the beauty of the pages.

A Breath of the Woods

“The Gold Seeker,” by Emily Elizabeth Beavan

“B–n, Emily E.” [Emily Elizabeth Beavan]. “The Gold Seeker.” The Courier (Hobart, Tasmania) 18 March 1853: 2.

Ms. Lyn Nunn of Australia, great-great-granddaughter of Emily Elizabeth Beavan, has been helping us immensely with filling in the biographical and bibliographical details about the formerly elusive poet. In her latest contribution to our project, she has sent the links to two poems published in Australian newspapers. The first of these is reproduced here; the second will follow tomorrow.

The Gold Seeker.

Pearly cold the moonbeams shone,
Where the gold-seeker slept when the day was done
Heavy and damp felt the curls of his hair,
And his pale young brow had a shade of care.
For hard and bitter had been his toil
Ere he won the glittering spoil.
But now he rested this dewy night,
And pillowed his head on his gold so bright.
In splendour the stars through the blue heavens roll,
And visions of beauty awake in his soul.
Far, far away, o’er the deep sea foam,
He standeth again in his childhood’s home;
And again the balmy scent he breathes
Of its clustering rose and woodbine wreaths,
He sees his mother, her eyes are dim,
As she makes to heaven a prayer for him;
And now he feels her fond caress,
As she bends her long lost boy to bless,
In the scented shade of a hawthorn tree
Crystal waters are gushing free.
By the fountain stands a maiden fair,
With soft dark eyes and shining hair;
And he hears her silvery accents tell
How she hath kept her troth-plight well.
She bathes his brow with the spring-drops cool,
She presses his lip and his joy is full.
But ah! with a pang of agony deep,
The dreamer wakes from his blessed sleep—
A shriek, a shudder, a sudden start,
The murderer’s knife is in his heart.
And while the streams of his life run cold—
They bear away his hard-won gold,
And leave him there alone to die,
By the pale blue light of a starry sky.
Strangers make him a nameless grave
Where the lofty trees of the forest wave.
And long may his mother pray and weep,
And the maiden true her trysting keep.
The grass grows green above his breast,
Where he taketh his long and dreamless rest.

“In Retrospect,” by Laura Vivian Belvadere Arnett

Arnett, L. V. Belvadere. “In Retrospect.” 1978. Manuscript.

I have mentioned at least once before how James Arnett, the grandson of Laura Vivian Belvadere Arnett, found his grandmother’s name on our blog and provided us with great deal of biographical information for our project. We are extremely grateful for such information from the public, especially the families of our authors. Mr. Arnett also sent us copies of two of his grandmother’s three chapbooks, some journals containing her work, and two of her poems in manuscript form. The following poem was written for and recited at the author’s 100th birthday party, in Powell River, BC.

In Retrospect

I sit Today in pensive mood
And scan Life’s Landscape o’er.—
I set my Easle up
And view the Canvas vast
On which I’d load from Time to Time,
With color and with brush,
Life’s Beauty and life’s Tragedy:

I see Life’s most exotic flowers
Withered by Summer Sun—
The magic of the Sylvan Wood
Blistered by finger of Flame—
The ripples of the murmuring Stream
Lost in a swelling Tide;
I see the Sunlit Meadow
Drenched in torrent of rain.
I see the Stars of Heaven
In a shroud of gathering Storm,—
I see the Morning Sunrise
Lost in the Evening Sunset.

Vast is the Canvas of Life—
Frail the Easle of Time.

“Robin and Bluebird,” by F. Robina Monkman

Monkman, F. Robina. “Robin and Bluebird.” Creative Young Canada: Collection of Verse, Drawings and Musical Compositions by Young Canadians from Seven to Twenty Years of Age. Ed. Aletta E. Marty. Toronto: Dent, 1928. Foreward by “Agnes Delamoure” (Nancy Durham). 128.

It is conceivable that this is one of F. Robina Monkman’s first published poems. She was born in 1908, so she would have been one of the oldest contributors to the collection, but still young.

Robin and Bluebird

“Love’s Miracle,” by L. M. Montgomery

Montgomery L. M. [Lucy Maud]. “Love’s Miracle.” Ed. James Dalton Morrison. Masterpieces of Religious Verse. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948. 401.

Lily Adams Beck and Duncan Campbell Scott

I was just reading through a few letters that Lily Adams Beck sent to Duncan Campbell Scott in 1922, and came across an observation from Beck that “the Canadian Bookman is, as you say, rather hopeless. In fact, to be perfectly candid, I scarcely see what benefit one gets from the Canadian Authors’ Association at all. I am half inclined to withdraw next year if things don’t look up” (15 Nov 1922). This struck me as significant, but not within our mandate to record in our entries; it caused me to wonder if there are any academics out there working specifically on the Canadian Authors Association, as an organization. Authors’ attitudes towards the association were apparently mixed, and it might make a fruitful and fascinating investigation.

In another letter, Adams Beck provides Scott with her solicited opinion of The Magic House and Other Poems (1893) and The Village of Viger (1896) which he had sent to her. In the more social part of the letter, Adams Beck relates that she had “told the Rideouts … [who] say they would give anything if you would go on to California to them” (9 Oct 1922). The connections between authors is another topic worth pursuing, but such passing comments revealing those connections are often difficult to glean.

In a letter of 15 Dec 1922, Adams Beck thanks Scott for his positive review of her first book, a collection of stories entitled The Ninth Vibration: “I am delighted with your review of The Ninth Vibration, which you sent me yesterday. I think it beautiful and one may feel that if one has deserved even a part of such commendation from you one has done well.” The Ninth Vibration is a collection of stories with paranormal elements, set mainly in India. The correspondence between Adams Beck and Scott is thus particularly notable, given Scott’s own inclusion of the paranormal in a number of his short stories.