Page 85 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 85
National Identification in Canada 85
surface image of tranquil and beautiful nature is expressed in the domi-
nant semantic field of silence, associated with the falling snow, meadows,
water, forests, air and earth (Lampman 1895, 45); however, identification
with idyllic nature is blocked by two opposing semantic fields: the field
of blurring—the forests, roads, hills and the sky are all being blurred—,
and the semantic field of the snow’s weight. In one of Lampman’s most
frequently discussed poems, Morning on the Lièvres from the collection
Among the Millet, the description of calm rowing on the river is subverted
with ambiguous lexemes of the bleeding brook, which the river is sucking
into itself, and dead tree trunks, which bring associations of death and
shipwreck (Lampman 1888, 21–22 v. 26–30; gl. Potocco 2011).
We can thus see two directions that link Lampman with the Eng-
lish romantic tradition, especially Keats’ poetry, on the one hand, and
Emerson’s transcendentalist philosophy, which is supposedly the source
of Lampman’s tendency towards union with nature, on the other; at the
same time, Lampman’s poetry seems to evade this very union, which was
interpreted by Canadian literary historians as specific to Lampman and
the Canadian response to nature in general (Arnold 1981). Eric Ball notes
that—depending on the interpreter—the same characteristics of Lamp-
man’s poetry often tend to be ascribed to the English romantic tradition
and American transcendentalism simultaneously (Ball 2013, Introduc-
tion). He expresses doubts that the distinction between these two tradi-
tions is even necessary. Nonetheless, we cannot wholly support his claim
due to the context of Lampman’s work. Not long after Lampman’s death,
Canadian literary criticism recorded a dispute which was telltale as regards
the dichotomy between the British-Canadian nationalism and the influ-
ence of the American literary tradition on the Canadian literary sphere.
Canadian literary criticism has interpreted this dispute as a disagreement
between the defenders of (post)romantic literature and the supporters of
the modernist current (Djwa 1976) who congregated around Montreal’s
McGill University. Poet A.J.M. Smith (1902–1980) coined the term ‘cos-
mopolitans’ for this group, when the anthology Book of Canadian Poet-
ry came out in 1943. This dispute can thus be understood as one between
nationalist poets and anti-nationalists, although relations between them
were neither simple nor unambiguous.
The defenders of the British-Canadian nationalism enjoyed the in-
stitutional support of the Canadian Writers’ Association and the publi-
cation The Canadian Bookman (1919–1939), which was the association’s
bulletin between 1921 and 1923. Both the publication and the association
were attacked by the magazine The Canadian Forum (1920–2000) due
surface image of tranquil and beautiful nature is expressed in the domi-
nant semantic field of silence, associated with the falling snow, meadows,
water, forests, air and earth (Lampman 1895, 45); however, identification
with idyllic nature is blocked by two opposing semantic fields: the field
of blurring—the forests, roads, hills and the sky are all being blurred—,
and the semantic field of the snow’s weight. In one of Lampman’s most
frequently discussed poems, Morning on the Lièvres from the collection
Among the Millet, the description of calm rowing on the river is subverted
with ambiguous lexemes of the bleeding brook, which the river is sucking
into itself, and dead tree trunks, which bring associations of death and
shipwreck (Lampman 1888, 21–22 v. 26–30; gl. Potocco 2011).
We can thus see two directions that link Lampman with the Eng-
lish romantic tradition, especially Keats’ poetry, on the one hand, and
Emerson’s transcendentalist philosophy, which is supposedly the source
of Lampman’s tendency towards union with nature, on the other; at the
same time, Lampman’s poetry seems to evade this very union, which was
interpreted by Canadian literary historians as specific to Lampman and
the Canadian response to nature in general (Arnold 1981). Eric Ball notes
that—depending on the interpreter—the same characteristics of Lamp-
man’s poetry often tend to be ascribed to the English romantic tradition
and American transcendentalism simultaneously (Ball 2013, Introduc-
tion). He expresses doubts that the distinction between these two tradi-
tions is even necessary. Nonetheless, we cannot wholly support his claim
due to the context of Lampman’s work. Not long after Lampman’s death,
Canadian literary criticism recorded a dispute which was telltale as regards
the dichotomy between the British-Canadian nationalism and the influ-
ence of the American literary tradition on the Canadian literary sphere.
Canadian literary criticism has interpreted this dispute as a disagreement
between the defenders of (post)romantic literature and the supporters of
the modernist current (Djwa 1976) who congregated around Montreal’s
McGill University. Poet A.J.M. Smith (1902–1980) coined the term ‘cos-
mopolitans’ for this group, when the anthology Book of Canadian Poet-
ry came out in 1943. This dispute can thus be understood as one between
nationalist poets and anti-nationalists, although relations between them
were neither simple nor unambiguous.
The defenders of the British-Canadian nationalism enjoyed the in-
stitutional support of the Canadian Writers’ Association and the publi-
cation The Canadian Bookman (1919–1939), which was the association’s
bulletin between 1921 and 1923. Both the publication and the association
were attacked by the magazine The Canadian Forum (1920–2000) due
