NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI® John Thompson, Phyllis Webb, and the Roots of the Free-Verse Ghazal in Canada by Rob Winger, B.A., B. Ed., M.A. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture: Cultural Mediations Carleton University Ottawa, Canada August, 2009 © 2009, Rob Winger Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-60125-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-60125-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract This thesis charts the emergence of the free-verse ghazal in Canada in the 1970s by exploring the form's important influence on contemporary Canadian poetics. While the form's imagistic accretion, disjuncture, lyric impulse, and allusiveness - a complex I call "the ghazal sensibility" - are anticipated in the pared down, lyric experiments of Phyllis Webb's Naked Poems (1965), the free-verse ghazal literally originates in the American co-translations of Urdu ghazals that comprise editor Aijaz Ahmad's Ghazals ofGhalib (1971). Original free-verse ghazals were first written in the United States by Adrienne Rich, who was inspired by the form's open structure while translating Ghalib for Ahmad's anthology. Following Rich's example, John Thompson - the originator and most important practitioner of the form in Canada - re-invents the Urdu ghazal's traditional conventions in his remarkably influential but critically undervalued Stilt Jack (published posthumously in 1978). To trace Stilt Jack's intertextual methodology - which involves overcoming the influence of Yeats by balancing (post)modern structural experimentation with a neo-Romantic lyric language -1 posit Thompson's embrace of the ghazal sensibility as a re-invention of Keats' concept of negative capability, a term recuperated in the early postmodern era by Charles Olson. While Thompson's practice inspires many important Canadian poets, the most significant and successful is Webb. Her Water and Light: Ghazals andAnti Ghazals (1984) employs a "Zen" poetics that balances haiku and ghazal sensibilities to engage what I call her "Ethics of Location," an attempt to become accountable for Western privilege by transforming rather than merely rejecting the limitations of poetic predecessors such as Thompson and Ghalib. Supported by a critical dialogue with Peter Sanger, Margaret Atwood, Pauline Butling, Stephen Collis, Ken Norris, Susan Glickman, John Hulcoop, and others, my historical and critical overview of the free-verse ghazal form in Canada ultimately suggests that its current neglect in poetry criticism is a limitation that requires remedy, and that its primary practitioners in Canada - Webb and Thompson - correspondingly deserve lasting recognition. - n - Acknowledgements Several people were fundamental in my primary research. Thanks are especially due to the sons of Shirley Gibson, Graeme and Matthew, for allowing me access to the still- sealed John Thompson Fonds at National Library and Archives in Ottawa, which were a revelation and a pleasure; to Archivist Catherine Hobbs for facilitating access to Thompson's materials and also the Phyllis Webb Fonds at the Archives; to Michael Ondaatje for suggesting I have a look at the criticism and poetry of Agha Shahid Ali, and providing insights about the ghazal's appearance in Canada; to Phyllis Webb for providing memories about discovering traditional ghazals and writing her own free-verse variations; to Allan Cooper and Harry Thurston for sharing their recollections of Thompson's life and incisive readings of his work; and especially to Peter Sanger for his invaluable championing of Thompson's poetry, complemented by his willingness to chat about what it continues to mean for Canadian poetry. I am also very thankful for mentors and colleagues at Carleton. For his wondrous, loyal support and encouragement over the years, I'm deeply indebted to Dr. Paul Theberge, head of Cultural Mediations. Similar kudos are due to Professor Chris Faulkner, who generously went way above and far beyond the duties of a second reader to make this project possible; to my external examiners, Dr. Douglas Barbour and Dr. Jody Mason, for their time and insights; and to Dr. Paul Keen for his insights into British Romanticism. For fueling many of my responses to Stilt Jack and Naked Poems, I am also indebted to those students who participated in the 1970s longpoem seminars I have led at Carleton since 2007. This project would not have been possible without the initial inspiration and guidance of my co-supervisor, Dr. Robert Hogg, who not only steered me towards so much revelatory poetry, but did so with a genuine enthusiasm difficult to match in the academic world. Finally, at Carleton, I must heartily acknowledge the many long hours spent on my writing by my co-supervisor, Dr. Brenda Carr-Vellino, whose editorial acuity and insight immeasurably improved my willingness and ability to put pen to paper. Many friends, writers, and colleagues must be acknowledged for sharing valuable informal insights into the nature of Thompson's and Webb's work. I would especially like to thank Anita Lahey, Matthew Holmes, Triny Finlay, Deanna Kruger, Don Domanski, Thaddeus Holownia, Arthur Motyer, Chris Dewdney, Janna Graham, Alex Wetmore, rob mclennan, and the ever-shifting staff of the Glebe Bridgehead for their respective discussions, debates, and open spaces. A penultimate thank you is required for my ever-supportive family - especially Janelle, Lynda, Larry, Angela, John and Darrin - who endured countless hours of complaint and revelation during this last half-decade of my scholarly journey. - in - Final, superlative thanks and love are due to my son, Davis, and partner, Kristal. Because mere expressions of appreciation are thoroughly inadequate to match the magnitude of their support, and because they deserve a precise rendering of my heartfelt gratitude, I'll defer to someone with a greater facility for precision than mine to give them their due: "Can't believe it, knowing nothing. / Friends: these words for you." - IV - Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents v Introduction: "the alchemist in the engineer" 1 Chapter 1 Ghalib, Ahmad, and Adrienne Rich: Inventing the Free-Verse Ghazal 38 Chapter 2 Forming Impulse: From Yeats to Mir in John Thompson's Stilt Jack 79 Chapter 3 Angler Poetics and Negative Capability in Stilt Jack 116 Chapter 4 How to know Know: "Zen" Poetics in Naked Poems and Water and Light 165 Chapter 5 Hear Here: Phyllis Webb's Water and Light as an Ethics of Location 200 Conclusion: What the Ghazal Taught 226 Works Cited and Consulted 239 - v - Introduction: "the alchemist in the engineer" -2- All that the critic can do for the reader or audience or spectator is to focus his gaze or audition. Rightly or wrongly I think my blasts and essays have done their work, and that more people are now likely to go to the sources than are likely to read this book. -Ezra Pound, 1918(47) -3- The poets who inspired the free-verse ghazal's Canadian birth existed in dark rooms, respectively wrestling with cultural collapse, political exclusion, psychological crisis, and an anxious complicity with Western artistic traditions. But, they refused to be blinded. Their poetic insight is the subject of this study. While the poetics of Ghalib, Adrienne Rich, John Thompson and Phyllis Webb span several coastlines, centuries, and nationalities, their primary focus is shared: an attempt to access and record interior perception and artistic limitation in the ghazal form. Despite the solitary nature of their reflections, each ghazal poet also dialogues