IN SEARCH OF A NATIONAL VOICE : SOME SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SCOTTISH AND CANADIAN POETRY 1860-1930 Linda Christine Knowles A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 1981 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15190 This item is protected by original copyright In Search of a National Voice: Some Similarities Between Scottish and Canadian Poetry 1860-1930. by Linda Christine Knowles 1981 ProQuest Number: 10167356 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10167356 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 s tv3. This thesis has been composed by me, and the work of which it is a record has been done by myself. It has not been accepted in any previous application for a higher degree. I have carried out research in Canadian and Scottish poetry in the Department of English, University of St Andrews under the supervision of Dr R.P. Doig. I was admitted as a research student under Ordinance General No. 12 in October 1976, and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. on June 24th 1977. I certify that Mrs Linda Christine Craig or Knowles has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution of the University Court, 1967, No. 1 as amended and the regulations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ' Ronald P. Doig Supervisor ABSTRACT The work is a study of poetry in Scotland and Canada in the period 1860-1930, with a special emphasis on the influence of nationalism. A discussion of the problems of literary nationalism in both countries is followed by a survey of national verse anthologies which illustrates the extent to which editors allowed their critical judgment to be coloured by the popu­ lar image of the national character. The importance of the Scottish vernacular and the Canadian wilderness to the establishment of a sense of national identity are considered in relation to a general discussion of language and nationa­ lism. Two important elements in this discussion are the role of the untutored poet as a natural spokesman for his country and the swing from conservative poetic diction to a freer use of colloquial language during this period, and this portion of the thesis contains a survey of represen­ tative Scottish and Canadian poets. There is also a com­ parison of the difficulty of establishing an appropriate mode of expression in a new country with the problems encountered by Scots whose traditional way of life was being disrupted by the industrialization and urbanization of their society. The study concludes with a comparison of the two poets, E.J. Pratt and Hugh MacDiarmid, whose work marks a transition from poetic conservatism to the experimentation characteristic of many twentieth century writers. Finally, it is argued that although poets and critics lamented the failures of publishers and readers to support national poetry, there was considerable enthusiasm for local poetry in Scotland and Canada,. It is maintained, however, that there was too clear a popular image of the Canadian or Scottish character, and that this prevented many poets from rising above mediocrity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research for this thesis was undertaken with the assistance of the University Library, St Andrews; the Maxwell MacOdrum Library, Carleton University, Ottawa; the National Library of Canada; the National Library of Scotland; the Bodleian Library; the Folklore Division of the National Archives of Canada. I must also acknowledge the assistance of Mrs Jean Davidson in typing the thesis and the unfailing enthusiasm and support of my supervisor, Dr. R.P. Doig. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Ones Introduction: Nationalism and Literature in Scotland and Canada 1 Chapter Two: Editors and Nationalism: National Verse Anthologies in Scotland 22 Chapter Three: National Verse Anthologies of Canada 82 Chapter Four: Language, Poetic Diction, and the Vernacular 131 Chapter Five: The Practice of Naivete 163 Chapter Six: Linguistic Nationalism arid Dialect Poetry in Canada 222 Chapter Seven: The Assimilation of the Wilderness 259 Chapter Eight: "Poetic Diction," Archaism, and the Twentieth Century: Hugh MacDiarmid and E.J. Pratt 334 Chapter Nine: Conclusion 392 Appendix A: The Scottish Origins of "Farewell to Nova Scotia" 405 Appendix B: Attitudes to the English Language 406 Appendix C: Snow and Night Scenes in David Gray’s "The Luggie" 413 B ibl i ography 420 1 Chapte r One: Introducti on s Nationalism and Literature in Scotland and Canada For who indeed but the most dull and stupid of wretches would employ his time in a quarry of diamonds with raking after dirt and pebble-stoyes, because such things might possibly be found there. In the greater world of literature in English, Canadian literature sometimes seems like so much gravel in a diamond quarry. As Northrop Frye observed, ’’The literary, in Canada, is often only an incidental quality of writings which, like those of many of the early ex­ plorers, are as innocent of literary intention as a mating •loon,” and, even when it is literary in the orthodox sense of poetry or fiction, ”it is more significantly studied as . 2 a part of an autonomous world of literature.” While it might be injudicious to apply these comments to Scottish literature, equally scathing remarks have been made by Scottish critics, as the following examples show: It is now generally agreed that no Scottish poetry of great consequenceQwas produced' between the death of Burns in 1796 and 1922.^ /Victorian 'Scottish verse7 is the lowest ebb of Scottish poetry since John Barbour, and there is no need to prolong a chapter already likely to be the dullest in this book. * Without having to agree with all of these statements it is still fair to say that, for the period of history since Canada's Confederation, neither country has produced a classic author ”in the sense of possessing a vision . 5 greater in kind than that of his best readers.” But there are other reasons for studying literature beyond the need to "define and canonize the genuine classics of litera 6 ture." As Douglas Young asserted in his foreword to 2 Scottish Verse 1851-1951, ”1 am as much interested in ten- 7 . dency as in achievement,” and one may believe, with Northrop Frye, that it is "much easier to see what litera­ ture is trying to do when we are studying a literature Q that has not quite done it.” Canada and Scotland share more than a common failure to produce a literary classic. Both Canada and Scotland have two languages and two main cultures: comparison between the French-Canadian of Quebec and the Gaelic­ speaking Highlander is natural. They also have, in part, a common history, since so many of Canada’s colonists were Scots exiled by the Highland Clearances. Both live within the shadow of a larger southern neighbour. These simi­ larities alone make the two countries interesting subjects for comparison, and one would expect to find similar res­ ponses to problems in their literature, but no feature is more striking than the fact that each is a national litera­ ture in a sense that the literature of England or the United States is not. The literary history of England is the account of the discovery by successive generations of what literature ought to be. The history of Scottish or Canadian litera­ ture, in contrast, is the account of efforts by successive generations to define the quality of mind and language which distinguishes the literature of their nation from that of any other. It has been said of Canadian literature, and it appears to be as true of Scottish literature, that u the national identity sometimes seems to give force to the literature rather than the other way around. 3 To a certain extent this, is true of the United States as well, hut the Revolution and written Constitution pro­ vided the people of the United States with a cultural identity which Canada’s evolutionary history did not. As for the Scots, the political union with England inter­ rupted their cultural tradition, or at least gave it new direction, at the same time that the independence of the United States was first being felt. Neither Canada nor Scotland possesses both of the elements which, taken together, ensure the recognition of an independent national literature; political autonomy and a distinctive national culture. Indeed, as both countries produce their literature in English, it has been suggested, perhaps with justification, that they ought to be considered simply as regional variations in the larger field of English literature; at best, Canada should .be considered in a study of North American literature. But, in spite of the fact that they recognize their place in a broader framework of English-language literatures, Scots and Canadians have generally refused to accept these al­ ternatives. They have taken the existence of the Scottish and Canadian nations as a sufficient reason for the litera­ ture they produce to be studied as separate literatures, and have defined the successes and failures, of their lite­ ratures in terms of the life of the nation.