"I lie out here on a ledge, with the surf on the rocks below me,
The hazy sunlight above and the whispering forest behind;
I lie and listen, O lake, to the legends and songs you throw me,
Out of the murmurous moods of your multitudinous mind.
"I lie and listen, a sound like voices of distant thunder,
The roar and throb of your life in your rock-wall's mighty cells;
Then after a softer voice that comes from the beaches under,
A chiming of waves on rocks, a laughter of silver bells.
"A glimmer of bird-like boats, that loom from the far horizon;
That scud and tack and dip under the gray and the blue;
A single gull that floats and skims the waters, and flies on,
Till she is lost like a dream in the haze of the distance, too.
"A steamer that rises a smoke, then after a tall, dark funnel,
That moves like a shadow across your water and sky's gray edge;
A dull, hard beat of a wave that diggeth himself a tunnel,
Down in the crevices dark under my limestone ledge.
"And here I lie on my ledge, and listen the songs you sing me,
Songs of vapour and blue, songs of island and shore;
And strange and glad are the hopes and sweet are the thoughts you
bring me
Out of the throbbing depths and wells of your heart's great
store."
"Pine, Rose and Fleur-de-Lis." By S. Frances Harrison ("Seranus").
Toronto, 1891.
"Songs, Lyrical and Dramatic." By John Henry Brown. Ottawa, 1892, 12mo.
The New York 'Nation' truly says of this new poetic aspirant that
he has Walt Whitman's tendencies, but nevertheless he "writes in a
generous spirit, and may yet have thoughts and expression all his own."
The fact is, I repeat, most Canadian poets are too imitative and too
rarely original.
"Tendres Choses. Poésies Canadiennes." By Dr. R. Chevrier. Montreal,
1892, 12mo. That an author unknown to fame should give us his portrait,
as in this case, is perplexing. Still the verse is frequently
melodious, though it represents what is a feature of French poetry,
melodious rhythm, rather than strength and thought.
"This Canada of Ours, and Other Poems." By J. D. Edgar, M.P., Toronto,
1893. This little volume contains "The White Stone Canoe: a Legend of
the Ottawas," which had been published in separate form some years
previously. His French and Latin translations are full of taste.
"Les Perce-Neige, premières poésies." By Napoléon Legendre. Montreal,
12mo. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and constant
contributor (generally in prose) to its 'Transactions.'
"Mes Rimes." By Elzéar Labelle. Montreal, 1886, 8vo.
Selections of Canadian poems have appeared of recent years in the
following publications:
1. "Selections from Canadian Poets: with occasional critical and
biographical notes and an introductory essay on Canadian poetry." By
the Rev. E. H. Dewart. Montreal, 1864, 8vo.
2. "Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters,
the Settlements and Cities of Canada." Selected and edited by W. D.
Lighthall, M.A., of Montreal. London, 1889, 12mo.
3. "Younger American Poets, 1830-1890." Edited by Douglas Sladen, B.A.,
Oxon. With an Appendix of Younger Canadian Poets. Edited by G. B.
Roberts of St. John, N.B. New York, 1891, 12mo.
4. "Later Canadian Poems." Edited by J. E. Wetherell, B.A. Toronto,
1893.
In the first mentioned work, which is judiciously edited, the poets
until 1864 obtain a place. In the three other books we have selections
from John Reade, Geo. Frederick Cameron, Prof. Roberts, Bliss Carman
(now a resident of the United States), A. H. Chandler, Isabella Valancy
Crawford, Mrs. Leprohon, Hereward K. Cockin, John Hunter Duvar, Rev.
A. W. H. Eaton, Louis Fréchette, James Hannay, Sophie M. Hensley,
Charles Sangster, M. Richey Knight, Archibald Lampman, W. D. Lighthall,
A. J. Lockhart, B. W. Lockhart, Agnes Maude Machar ("Fidelis"), W.
McLennan, Charles Mair, Mary Morgan ("Gowan Lea"), Charles P. Mulvany,
Rev. F. G. Scott, Philip Stewart, H. R. A. Pocock, Barry Stratton, A.
Weir, Mary Barry Smith, John T. Lespérance ("Laclède"), W. Wye Smith,
Ethelwyn Wetherald, John E. Logan ("Barry Dane"), George Martin, Mrs.
Harrison ("Seranus"), D. Campbell Scott, James D. Edgar, E. Pauline
Johnson, George Murray, William Kirby, Annie Rothwell, W. A. Sherwood,
Isidore G. Ascher, P. J. O. Chauveau, B. Sulte, P. LeMay, and others.
I enumerate these names to show how many Canadians have ventured upon
the field of poesy despite the practical realities of life in this
relatively new country. The selections in the second of these works
would have been more valuable had they contained "Our Fathers" by
Joseph Howe--the most spirited poem in some respects ever written by a
native Canadian. To the names of poetic aspirants, too, must be added
those of M. J. Katzmann and of M. J. Griffin, whose fugitive pieces
have attracted notice. Mr. Griffin has fine literary tastes and his few
poems, only the relaxation of leisure hours, show he might win fame
in this delightful department of letters. The reader will obtain some
idea of the standard of Canadian poetry by reading the selections, and
should not be carried away by the too obvious enthusiasm that has at
times stifled the critical faculty in the editors. The poetic genius
of Canadians is to be stimulated, not by sentimental gush, but by a
judicious criticism that is not sufficiently cultivated by our writers
who review the efforts of our poets, historians and essayists. These
remarks also apply to such articles as that by the late Mr. Lespérance
on "The Poets of Canada" in 'Trans. Roy. Soc. Can.,' vol. ii., Sec. II.
Mr. Evan McColl, F.R.S.C., is the Gaelic poet of Canada. Three editions
have appeared of the "Clàrsach nam Beann," which was printed as far
back as 1838 in Glasgow. The same was also published in English in the
same year, under the title of "The Mountain Minstrel," of which six
editions have been printed. In 1883 he published in Toronto "Poems and
Songs chiefly written in Canada." Mr. McColl is a great favourite among
his Scotch countrymen everywhere; but his decidedly original poetic
genius, rude and wild as it is at times, is not a Canadian product, for
he was born at Kenmore, Lochfyne-Side, Scotland, in 1808, and it was
not until he was forty years of age that he made Canada his home. He is
now a resident of Toronto, and still comes to the annual meetings of
the Royal Society, of which he was one of the original members.]
[Footnote 41: Page 21.--"IN MY HEART." BY JOHN READE.
"In my heart are many chambers through which I wander free;
Some are furnished, some are empty, some are sombre, some are
light;
Some are open to all comers, and of some I keep the key,
And I enter in the stillness of the night.
"But there's one I never enter--it is closed to even me!
Only once its door was opened, and it shut for evermore;
And though sounds of many voices gather round it like a sea,
It is silent, ever silent, as the shore.
"In that chamber, long ago, my love's casket was concealed,
And the jewel that it sheltered I knew only one could win:
And my soul foreboded sorrow, should that jewel be revealed,
And I almost hoped that none might enter in.
"Yet day and night I lingered by that fatal chamber door,
Till--she came at last my darling one, of all the earth my own;
And she entered--then she vanished with my jewel which she wore;
And the door was closed--and I was left alone.
"She gave me back no jewel, but the spirit of her eyes
Shone with tenderness a moment, as she closed that chamber door,
And the memory of that moment is all I have to prize--
But _that_, _at least_, is mine for evermore.
"Was she conscious, when she took it, that the jewel was my love?
Did she think it but a bauble she might wear or toss aside?
I know not, I accuse not, but I hope that it may prove
A blessing, though she spurn it in her pride."]