Canadian literature, English: Essays and Poetry
Essays and Poetry
The essayist Northrop Frye is noted for his systematic classification of literature, presented in his
Genuinely Canadian poetry was late in developing. In the 18th cent. Puritan hymnists, such as Henry Alline, and refugee Tory satirists, such as Jonathan Odell, took their models from American colonial or English neoclassical literature. Before the confederation of 1867 the only poets of note were Charles Sangster, the first to make use of native material, and Charles Heavysege, whose long poetic drama
Starting c.1880, the “confederation school”—C. G. D. Roberts, Archibald Lampman, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott—began producing a large body of romantic poetry, describing nature and Canadian rural life. In 1905, long after her death in 1887, Isabella V. Crawford was recognized as an important poet; she was followed by Emily Pauline Johnson and Marjorie Pickthall. Other poets of the early part of the century included Wilfred Campbell, W. H. Drummond, Francis Sherman, John McCrae, and the greatly popular Robert W. Service.
In 1926 the prolific E. J. Pratt broke away from the romantic tradition with
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Essays and Poetry
- The Canadian Novel
- Early Canadian Writing
- Bibliography
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