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The literary reputation of Bliss Carman: A study in the development of Canadian taste in poetry PDF

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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE LITERARY REPUTATION OP BLISS CARMAN: A STUDY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OP CANADIAN TASTE IN POETRY Hugh McPherson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO 1950 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: EC53846 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Microform EC53846 Copyright2009by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Approved for the Department of English Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C 0 I T S IT T S ABSTRACT FOREWORD Chapter I. Sources: An Essay on Canadian Literary Periodicals (1888 - 1950) 1 II. 1888 - 1914: Chronological survey of Criticism 18 III. 1888 - 1914: Topical Analysis of Criticism 56 IV. 1915 - 1929: Chronological Survey of Criticism 81 V. 1915 - 1929: Topical Analysis of Criticism 124 VI. 1930 - 1950: Chronological Survey of Criticism 153 VII. 1930 - 1950: Topical Analysis of Criticism 189 VIII. Conclusion: A Rote on Trends in Canadian Criticism 210 APP3IDIX A A Short list of Bliss Carman's Works 220 APPENDIX B Table of Periodicals Consulted 222 APPENDIX Books and Articles About Bliss Carman 227 APPENDIX D Some General Articles on Canadian Literature, (vhich did not mention Bliss Carman) 247 APPENDIX E Additional References 255 258 VITA Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. | ABSTRACT I Bliss Carman, one of Canada’s best-known poets, I £ | published more than thirty volumes of verse and prose | between 1893 and 19'29. The literary criticism which 1 ■ . * his work inspired may be considered as a limited index i | to the development of taste in poetry in Canada. i .f This thesis is a detailed study of the criticism of Bliss Carman in Canadian books, periodicals and i | newspapers and in the leading British and American I reviews, from 1888 to 1950. It begins with an essay . s on Canadian periodicals which mentioned Carman's work. The succeeding chapters describe chronologically the notices which Carman received and analyze these notices in terms of the critical attitudes which they express -• attitudes of nationalism, moral uplift, social-cons- ciousness, vicarious pleasure, romantic sentiment and personal booming. The analysis reveals how these attitudes persisted or changed from decade to decade and concludes with a note on trends in Canadian liter­ ary criticism as revealed by the criticism of Carman. \ The five appendices consist of: a short bibliog- i | raphy of Carman’s works; a table of the periodicals | consulted; a bibliography of book and periodical | criticism of Carman; a short bibliography of articles i| | on Canadian literature which did not mention Carman; I Is and a bibliography of other works consulted. ! ■ I "j 1 j Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. [ In recent years Canadian scholars have shown i 1 an increasing concern over the inadequacy of our lit­ erary criticism. Professor Desmond Pacey, reviewing the whole subject in The University of Toronto Quarterly for January, 1950, emphasized the dearth of Canadian periodical criticism, of monographs on Canadian authors, and the lack of a competent, comprehensive literary history. "Countless doctoral candidates ; have cultivated the English-and American fields," Dr. Pacey continued," ... but in Canada scarcely the first sod has been turned'.., ." I feel that as Canadians we have, a special right and responsibility to Investigate our own lit­ erary history. Our social, political, and econ­ omic historians have long shown us the way... . ; Our American neighbors have come increasingly, | in the past two decades, to make their own literary tradition a major subject of study. The "general volumes" which have attempted to | cover a part or all of Canadian literature are the | following: | Handbook of Canadian Literature (English.) (1906) j by Archibald’MacMurchy, | English-Canadian Literature, (1913) by j T. G. Marquis, j A History of English-Canadian Literature to j Confederation, (1920) by R. P. Baker. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Highways of Canadian Literature, (1924) by J. D. Logan and D. G. '.French, Headwaters of Canadian Literature, (1924) by Archibald MacMechan, Appraisals of Canadian Literature, (1926) by Lionel Stevenson,' An Outline of Canadian Literature (French and^ English! (1927) by Lorne Pierce, A Handbook of Canadian Literature, (1930) by V. B» Rhodenizer, On Canadian Poetry, (1943) by E. K. Brown, The Book of Canadian Poetry, (1943) by A. J. M. Smith. Each of these books shows some merit in its organization, its critical insight or the amount of factual information which it contains. But as a panorama of Canadian literary development, with the multiplicity of ideas, attitudes, tensions, motives and pressures attendant upon that development, each book exhibits obvious shortcomings: not one of them now covers the entire field; some treat Canadian writers in an isolated, out-of-period manner; some force the nation's literary output into uneasy categories; and some indulge more in patriotic eulogy than in serious literary criticism. Now a comprehensive literary history of Canada would involve a synthesis of several elements: a careful analysis of the work and careers of individual writers; an examination of the political, social, econ­ omic, religious and philosophical forces which affected these writers; and a study of the literary criticism Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. | or critio.al thinking which both reflected and shaped the | nation's attitude toward its literature. Back of such a literary history would lie a tremendous amount : of research. The present dissertation -- a study in the literary reputation of Bliss Carman -- is offered as a small portion of the research which must necess­ arily precede the writing of our literary history. The purposes of this dissertation are: to observe the record of Canadian book and periodical criticism of a single poet; to observe the critical attention which the same poet received .in Britain and the United States; to discover what Canadian critical standards this record reveals and, if possible, how and why f I \ they developed or failed to develop. In short, the dissertation will reveal — within narrow limits — what Canadian taste was, and how it funtioned, over a period * A of sixty years, (1890 - 1950); it will thus illuminate at least one aspect of the development of the nation's ? literature and taste. I There are numerous reasons why Bliss Carman has t I been selected as the most suitable writer for a study I in Canadian literary development. His work has been I | good enough and prominent enough to inspire a large '■j jj body of critical writing covering a period of more I than half a century. Since a substantial amount of I I i I I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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