Aestheticism and the Canadian Modernists: Aspects of a Poetic Influence

381 Pages·1989·18.403 MB·English

by  Brian Trehearne

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Aestheticism and
the Canadian
Modernists
Aspects of a Poetic
Influence
BRIAN TREHEARNE
McGill-Queen's University Press
Kingston, Montreal, London
©McGill-Queen's University Press 1989
ISBN 0-7735-0710-8
Legal deposit 2nd quarter 1989
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
This book has been published with the help of a
grant from the Canadian Federation for the
Humanities, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Trehearne, Brian, 1957-
Aestheticism and the Canadian Modernists
Includes index.
Bibliography: p.
ISBN 0-7735-0710-8
1. Canadian poetry (English) - 2oth century - History
and criticism. 2. Aestheticism (Literature). I. Title.
PS1O5.M6T74 1989 c811'.5'09 c89-090097-3
PR9190.5.T74 1989
Material from Robert Finch's Poems, from John
Glassco's Memoirs of Montparnasse, A Point of Sky and
Selected Poems, from Leo Kennedy's The Shrouding,
from F.R. Scott's Selected Poems and from A.J.M.
Smith's Poems New and Collected is quoted by
permission of Oxford University Press Canada.
Material from W.W.E. Ross's Shapes and Sounds is
quoted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Material from F.R. Scott's Collected Poems is quoted by
permission of the Canadian Publishers, McClelland
and Stewart, Toronto.
For my father, who would have preferred
this work
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Influence, Aestheticism, Modernism 3
2 Impressionism and Modernism in Ross
and Knister 22
3 Aestheticism in the Canadian
"Contemporaries" 71
4 "Brian Tuke" and "Bernard March": The
Early Decadent Scott 134
5 John Glassco's Post-Decadent Verse 175
6 A.J.M. Smith: Aesthetic Master of
Canadian Poetry 230
7 Conclusion: Speculations 308
Notes 321
Bibliography 343
Index 363
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Acknowledgments
The works of Robert Finch have been quoted with the permission
of Robert Finch, Toronto, Ontario. The works of John Glassco, F.R.
Scott and A.J.M. Smith have been quoted with the permission of
the three poets' mutual literary executor, Mr William Toye of Oxford
University Press, Don Mills, Ontario. Quotations from Frederick
Philip Grove by permission A. Leonard Grove, Toronto, Ontario.
The works of Raymond Knister have been quoted with the permis-
sion of Imogen Knister Givens, Harley, Ontario. I am grateful to all
of these persons for their ready encouragement and support and
prompt responses to inquiries. Every effort has been made to contact
the owners of copyright for material in this volume, and the author
would be grateful to hear of omissions so that they may be corrected
in subsequent editions.
Many people have assisted me in the preparation of this study,
whether through persistent moral support or intellectual challenge
and encouragement. Heartfelt thanks to Mrs H.W. Trehearne and
to Mr and Mrs R.V. Cattell, for encouragements of infinite variety.
Thanks are also due to David Bentley, provocative interlocutor and
boon companion during the final stages of my work. To Louis Du-
dek, for his unfailing enthusiasm for the project and his demanding
criticism of it, my whole-hearted gratitude and affection.
The thesis from which this book emerged was undertaken with
the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada and the Administrative Committee of Huron College,
London, Ontario. Final stages of revision were completed while the
author was a Webster Fellow in the Humanities at Queen's Uni-
versity, Kingston. The book was published with the assistance of
an Aid to Scholarly Publications Grant from the Canadian Federation
from the Humanities. To all these agencies, my thanks for their
generosity and understanding.