The Beginnings of a National Literary Tradition Essay -- Canadian Hist

The Beginnings of a National Literary TraditionCanadians throughout their history have been concerned over the statusof their national literature. One of the major problems go about early Canadianwriters was that the language and poetic conventions that they had inheritedfrom the Old World were inadequate for the new scenery and conditions in whichthey now found themselves. Writers such as Susanna Moodie, Samuel Hearne, andOliver Goldsmith were what I would consider Immigrant authors. Even thoughthey were penning in Canada about Canada their style and their audiences wereprimarily England and Europe. These authors wrote from an Old World perspectiveand therefore were non truly Canadian authors. It took a group of homespunyoung writers in the later part of the 19thCentury to begin to build a genuinediscipline of Canadian literary thought. This group, affectionately known as The Confederation Poets, consisted of four main authors Charles G.D. Roberts,Bliss Carman, Duncan Campbell S cott, and Archibald Lampman. The PoetsofConfederation established what can legitimately be called the first distinct schoolhouse of Canadian poetry(17, Keith). The term The Poets of Confederationis a misnomer since not one of these poets/authors was more than ten years oldwhen the Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867. However, all of these writerswere apprised of the lack of a distinctive Canadian literary tradition and theymade efforts to create one for their successors. While each of these men hadtheir own distinctive writing style they all sought to contribute and create a national literature. According to R.E.Rashley in Poetry in Canada The FirstThree Steps there is no Canadian poetry before The Confederation Poetstime(98). These men were the first in a long line of authors and artists toconceive of the need for a discernible national literature. The ConfederationPoets function was to explore the new knowledge that they had acquired ofthemselves that had been created by the interaction of environment and peopleand the concept of evolutionary growth(Rashley 98). Archibald Lampman was a get a line note in the beginnings of a national literary movement. Before Lampman andthe other Confederation poets there seemed to be a mere repetition of Europeanideas in literature in Canada. Even though Lampman was influence... ...oet of Nature. Montreal LouisCarrier and Co., 1929.Crawford, A.W. Archibald Lampman. Critical Views on Canadian WritersArchibald Lampman. Ed. Michael Gnarowski. Toronto Ryerson Press, 1970.Early, L.R. Archibald Lampman (1861-1899). Canadian Writers and their WorksVol.II. Eds. Lecker, David, & Quigley. Ontario ECW Press, 1983.Guthrie, Norman Gregor. The Poetry Of Archibald Lampman. Toronto The MussonBook Co., 1927.Keith, W.J. Archibald Lampman. Profiles in Canadian Literature Vol.I. Ed.Jeffrey M. Heath. Toronto Dundurn Press Ltd., 1980.Lampman, Archibald. The Poems of Archibald Lampman. Toronto University ofToronto, 1974.Marshall, John. Archi bald Lampman. Critical Views on Canadian WritersArchibald Lampman. Ed. Michael Gnarowski. Toronto Ryerson Press, 1970.Rashley, R.E. Poetry in Canada The First Three Steps. Toronto Ryerson Press,1958.Stouck, David. Major Canadian Authors A Critical Introduction. LincolnUniversity of atomic number 10 Press, 1984.Stringer, Arthur. A Glance at Lampman. Critical Views on Canadian WritersArchibald Lampman. Ed. Michael Gnarowski. Toronto Ryerson Press, 1970.