Anne Marriott
Encyclopedia
Anne Marriott was a Canadian writer who won the Governor General’s Award
for her book Calling Adventurers! "She was renowned especially for the narrative poem The Wind, Our Enemy," which she wrote while still in her twenties.
, British Columbia
(the daughter of Catherine Heley and Edward Guy Marriott), and lived most of her life in that province. As a girl she spent several summers with relatives on a farm in Saskatchewan
, which formed the basis of experience for many of her earlier poems.
Marriott took creative writing classes at the University of British Columbia
. She was active in British Colombia’s literary community as "a productive poet and poetry-educator in the 1940s." She served on the editorial board of Contemporary Verse, which she founded with Dorothy Livesay
, Floris McLaren, Doris Ferne and Alan Crawley in 1941.
In 1945 Anne Marriott moved to Ottawa and worked as an editor for the National Film Board. After marrying Gerald McLellan in 1947, Marriot returned with him to British Columbia, where they adopted and raised three children. Curtis, Jenefer “Lives Lived"
Marriott worked as a script writer from 1945 to 1949, a reporter and editor from 1950 to 1953 and an assistant librarian from 1953 to 1958.
Marriott remained active in the literary community and prepared multiple scripts for the CBC. Curtis, Jenefer, “Lives Lived” Following the 1974 death of her husband, she became involved in producing poetry workshops for young people.
In the 1980s Anne Marriott published multiple volumes of poetry and a volume of short stories.
Marriott died in Vancouver following a stroke.
classic, utilizing "the most vital elements of the modern tradition." It "is episodic and documentary rather than strictly narrative in form." It uses "heavy alliteration
and repeated sound patterns" in place of rhyme and rhythm. Its ten "sections develop in a mosaic made up of compressed details and dramatized speech. In its colloquial rhythms and its concrete language, the poem expressed for a generation of readers the inarticulate suffering of the prairie farmer who saw his land and his hopes blowing away in a cloud of dust."
The poems of Calling Adventurers! were originally written as choruses for a CBC documentary, "Payload," that in Marriott's words " "celebrated the romance and heroism of the northern 'bush flyer' in the era leading up to World War II,"
Marriott published two other books of poetry in the 1940s. "Both Salt Marsh (1942) and Sandstone and Other Poems (1945) contain some vigorous and effective lyrics inspired by prairie scenes. 'Woodyards in the Rain' and 'Prairie Graveyard,' for example, display ... intense feeling." Sandstone and Other Poems was her "best-known collection."
In The Circular Coast: Poems New and Selected (1981), "the west coast landscape is symbolically identified with the body as the poet seeks, in images which are at once precise and complex, to come to terms with the problems of aging, loneliness, and death."
In 1985's Letters from Some Islands, "the poems are about journeys in space and time. Landscapes both strange and familiar are here transformed into metaphors for the aging body."
1943 Women's Canadian Club Literary Award
1956 Koerner Foundation scholarship
1958 Ohio Award for Educational Broadcasting
Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy Brock University.
Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama
This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama. The award was created in 1937, the second year of the awards, and existed until 1980, when it was split into the separate awards for poetry and drama.-1930s:...
for her book Calling Adventurers! "She was renowned especially for the narrative poem The Wind, Our Enemy," which she wrote while still in her twenties.
Life
Because of The Wind Our Enemy, Marriott is often thought to be from one of Canada's prairie provinces. In fact she was born and raised in VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
(the daughter of Catherine Heley and Edward Guy Marriott), and lived most of her life in that province. As a girl she spent several summers with relatives on a farm in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, which formed the basis of experience for many of her earlier poems.
Marriott took creative writing classes at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. She was active in British Colombia’s literary community as "a productive poet and poetry-educator in the 1940s." She served on the editorial board of Contemporary Verse, which she founded with Dorothy Livesay
Dorothy Livesay
Dorothy Kathleen May Livesay, was a Canadian poet who twice won the Governor General`s Award in the 1940s, and was "senior woman writer in Canada" during the 1970s and 1980s.-Life:...
, Floris McLaren, Doris Ferne and Alan Crawley in 1941.
In 1945 Anne Marriott moved to Ottawa and worked as an editor for the National Film Board. After marrying Gerald McLellan in 1947, Marriot returned with him to British Columbia, where they adopted and raised three children. Curtis, Jenefer “Lives Lived"
Marriott worked as a script writer from 1945 to 1949, a reporter and editor from 1950 to 1953 and an assistant librarian from 1953 to 1958.
Marriott remained active in the literary community and prepared multiple scripts for the CBC. Curtis, Jenefer, “Lives Lived” Following the 1974 death of her husband, she became involved in producing poetry workshops for young people.
In the 1980s Anne Marriott published multiple volumes of poetry and a volume of short stories.
Marriott died in Vancouver following a stroke.
Poetry
Marriott is perhaps best known for her "spectacular" long poem, The Wind Our Enemy, which she wrote in her twenties. The Wind Our Enemy, chronicles the devastation of drought on the Canadian prairies during the 1930s. It is seen as a modernistModernist poetry in English
Modernist poetry in English is generally considered to have emerged in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists. In common with many other modernists, these poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, with its emphasis on traditional...
classic, utilizing "the most vital elements of the modern tradition." It "is episodic and documentary rather than strictly narrative in form." It uses "heavy alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
and repeated sound patterns" in place of rhyme and rhythm. Its ten "sections develop in a mosaic made up of compressed details and dramatized speech. In its colloquial rhythms and its concrete language, the poem expressed for a generation of readers the inarticulate suffering of the prairie farmer who saw his land and his hopes blowing away in a cloud of dust."
The poems of Calling Adventurers! were originally written as choruses for a CBC documentary, "Payload," that in Marriott's words " "celebrated the romance and heroism of the northern 'bush flyer' in the era leading up to World War II,"
Marriott published two other books of poetry in the 1940s. "Both Salt Marsh (1942) and Sandstone and Other Poems (1945) contain some vigorous and effective lyrics inspired by prairie scenes. 'Woodyards in the Rain' and 'Prairie Graveyard,' for example, display ... intense feeling." Sandstone and Other Poems was her "best-known collection."
In The Circular Coast: Poems New and Selected (1981), "the west coast landscape is symbolically identified with the body as the poet seeks, in images which are at once precise and complex, to come to terms with the problems of aging, loneliness, and death."
In 1985's Letters from Some Islands, "the poems are about journeys in space and time. Landscapes both strange and familiar are here transformed into metaphors for the aging body."
Honors and awards
- 1941 Governor General's Award1941 Governor General's AwardsIn Canada, the 1941 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the fifth such awards. The awards in this period had no monetary prize and were just an honour for the authors.-Winners:*Fiction: Alan Sullivan, Three Came to Ville Marie....
for
Poetry collections
- The Wind Our Enemy, Toronto: Ryerson Press, 19391939 in poetry— W. H. Auden, from "September 1, 1939"Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*Last issue of The Criterion is published....
. - Calling Adventurers!, Toronto: Ryerson Press, 19411941 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*September 3 — 19-year-old John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator, flew a high-altitude test flight in a Spitfire V and afterwards wrote "High Flight" about the experience, on...
. - Salt Marsh, Toronto: Ryerson Press, 19421942 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* George Oppen forces his induction into the U.S. Army....
. - Sandstone and Other Poems, Toronto: Ryerson Press, 19451945 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, based on George Crabbe's The Borough...
. - Countries, Fredericton, NB: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 19711971 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* This Magazine founded by Robert Grenier and Barrett Watten...
. - A Swarming in My Mind, with Joyce Moller. Curriculum Services, 19771977 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* January – James Dickey, composed a poem he read at new United States President Jimmy Carter’s inaugural gala although not at the inauguration itself.* British publication Gay News successfully...
. - This West Shore, Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 19811981 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Jane Greer launched Plains Poetry Journal, an advance guard of the New Formalism movement....
. - The Circular Coast: Poems New and Selected, Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 19811981 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Jane Greer launched Plains Poetry Journal, an advance guard of the New Formalism movement....
. - Letters from Some Island: New Poems, Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 19861986 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* New American Writing, an annual literary magazine concentrating on poetry, is founded in Chicago, Illinois....
. - Aqua, Toronto: Wolsak & Wynn, 19911991 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Forward Poetry Prize created...
.
Fiction collections
- A Long Way to Oregon: Selected Short Stories, Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1984. ISBN 088962240X
Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy Brock University.
External links
- ”Anne Marriott” Canadian Women Poets. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- “Marriott, Joyce Anne””, Canadian Encyclopedia Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- Curtis, Jenefer. “Lives Lived: Joyce Anne Marriott McLellan”, Globe and Mail, November 7, 1997, page A18. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- "Inventory of the Anne Marriott Papers, 1922-1989", Special Collections, University of British Columbia, 1990. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- "(Joyce) Anne Marriott"”, Dictionary of Literary Biography. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- "Anne Marriott, Frontier Poet"” Stubbs, Andrew and Jeanette Stein. Canadian Journal of Poetry Fall 1984. Vol.15, pages 48–60. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- Selected Poetry of Anne Marriott - Biography and 3 poems (On Reading that I am ‘Elderly’, Prairie Graveyard, The Wind Our Enemy)