Arthur Bourinot
Encyclopedia
Arthur Stanley Bourinot (November 3, 1893 – January 17, 1969) was a Canadian lawyer
, scholar, and poet
. "His carefully researched historical and biographical books and articles on Canadian poets
, such as Duncan Campbell Scott
, Archibald Lampman
, George Frederick Cameron
, William E. Marshall and Charles Sangster
, have made a valuable contribution to the field of literary criticism
in Canada
."
, Ontario
, the son of Lady Isabelle and Sir John George Bourinot
. He was educated at Ottawa Collegiate Institute, and University College, Toronto. Graduating in 1915, he found a position as a civil servant in Canada
's Department of Indian Affairs, but almost immediately took a leave of absence to serve in World War I
. He served overseas in the Canadian Army and Royal Flying Corps
(later the Royal Air Force
). He was a prisoner of war
in 1917 and 1918.
After the war, Bourinot received his legal training from Osgoode Hall Law School
. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1920. He practiced law in Ottawa until retiring in 1959.
Bourinot began publishing poetry as an undergraduate, and brought out his first book, the slim 24-poem Laurentian Lyrics and Other Poems in December, 1915. The Encyclopedia of Literature has called him "a deft versifier enthralled with the beauty of nature, the major subject of both his poems and his paintings." Confederation Poet
Duncan Campbell Scott
was his close friend and mentor.
Bourinot's verse was at first traditional with little experimentation, but by Under the Sun (1939) was showing "a new versatility in its terse rhythms and free verse, and in its frank poems about the Depression and the coming war." Under the Sun won the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama
in 1939
.
Bourinot edited the Canadian Poetry Magazine from 1948 to 1954 and from 1966 to 1968. He was editor of Canadian Author and Bookman from 1953 to 1954, and an associate editor from 1957 to 1960. During that period he began to edit and privately publish volumes of the correspondence of Scott, Lampman, and Edward William Thomson
.
Except where noted, bibliographic information is courtesy the Encyclopedia of Literature.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, scholar, and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. "His carefully researched historical and biographical books and articles on Canadian poets
Canadian poetry
- Beginnings:The earliest works of poetry, mainly written by visitors, described the new territories in optimistic terms, mainly targeted at a European audience...
, such as Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott was a Canadian poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets....
, Archibald Lampman
Archibald Lampman
Archibald Lampman, was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in...
, George Frederick Cameron
George Frederick Cameron
George Frederick Cameron was a Canadian poet, lawyer, and journalist, best known for the libretto for the operetta Leo, the Royal Cadet.-Life:...
, William E. Marshall and Charles Sangster
Charles Sangster
Charles Sangster was a Canadian poet whose 1856 volume, The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay, "was received with unanimous acclaim as the best and most important book of poetry produced in Canada until that time." He was "the first poet who made appreciative use of Canadian subjects in his poetical...
, have made a valuable contribution to the field of literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
."
Life
Arthur Bourinot was born in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, the son of Lady Isabelle and Sir John George Bourinot
John George Bourinot (younger)
Sir John George Bourinot, KCMG was a Canadian journalist, historian, and civil servant, widely regarded and remembered as an expert of parliamentary procedure and constitutional law....
. He was educated at Ottawa Collegiate Institute, and University College, Toronto. Graduating in 1915, he found a position as a civil servant in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's Department of Indian Affairs, but almost immediately took a leave of absence to serve in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He served overseas in the Canadian Army and Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
(later the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
). He was a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in 1917 and 1918.
After the war, Bourinot received his legal training from Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School is a Canadian law school, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and affiliated with York University. Named after the first Chief Justice of Ontario, William Osgoode, the law school was established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889 and was the only accredited law...
. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1920. He practiced law in Ottawa until retiring in 1959.
Bourinot began publishing poetry as an undergraduate, and brought out his first book, the slim 24-poem Laurentian Lyrics and Other Poems in December, 1915. The Encyclopedia of Literature has called him "a deft versifier enthralled with the beauty of nature, the major subject of both his poems and his paintings." Confederation Poet
Confederation Poets
"Confederation Poets" is the name given to a group of Canadian poets born in the decade of Canada's Confederation who rose to prominence in Canada in the late 1880s and 1890s. The term was coined by Canadian professor and literary critic Malcolm Ross, who applied it to four poets Charles G.D...
Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott was a Canadian poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets....
was his close friend and mentor.
Bourinot's verse was at first traditional with little experimentation, but by Under the Sun (1939) was showing "a new versatility in its terse rhythms and free verse, and in its frank poems about the Depression and the coming war." Under the Sun won the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama
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:...
in 1939
1939 Governor General's Awards
The 1939 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the fourth such awards. No monetary prize was yet given; the awards were simply recognition of the authors.-Winners:*Fiction: Franklin D. McDowell, The Champlain Road...
.
Bourinot edited the Canadian Poetry Magazine from 1948 to 1954 and from 1966 to 1968. He was editor of Canadian Author and Bookman from 1953 to 1954, and an associate editor from 1957 to 1960. During that period he began to edit and privately publish volumes of the correspondence of Scott, Lampman, and Edward William Thomson
Edward William Thomson (writer)
Edward William Thomson was a Canadian journalist and writer.He was born in Peel County, Ontario, the grandson of Edward William Thomson, a member of the York militia who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada....
.
Poetry
- Laurentian Lyrics and Other Poems. Toronto: Copp Clark, 19151915 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Russian poet Sergei Yesenin , published his first book of poems titled "Radumitsa."...
. - Poems (Toronto: T.H. Best, 19211921 in poetry— Wilfred Owen, concluding lines of Dulce et Decorum Est, published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
) - Lyrics from the hills (19231923 in poetry-- From Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", first published this year in his collection New HampshireNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
) - Pattering Feet: A book of childhood verses. Ottawa: Graphic Publishers, 19251925 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* T. S. Eliot joins the publishing house of Faber & Gwyer, leaves Lloyds bank....
. - Ottawa Lyrics and verses for children (19291929 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The Little Review, edited by Margaret Caroline Anderson and Jane Heap, ceases publication* The Dial ceases publication...
) - Selected Poems (1915–1935) (19351935 in poetryLinks to nations or nationalities point to articles with information on that nation's poetry or literature. For example, United Kingdom links to English poetry and Indian links to Indian poetry.-Events:* Canada -- Charles G.D...
) - Under the Sun (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....
) - Canada at Dieppe. Toronto: Ryerson, 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....
. - True Harvest (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...
) - The Collected Poems of Arthur S. Bourinot (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 19471947 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Dorothy Parker divorces Alan Campbell for the first time....
) - Paul Bunyan, Three Lincoln Poems, and Other Verse. Ottawa: Arthur S. Bourinot, 1961.
- Watcher of Men: selected poems (1947–66). Ottawa: Arthur S. Bourinot, 19661966 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Raymond Souster founds the League of Canadian Poets...
.
Prose
- Five Canadian poets. Montreal: Quality Press, 1954. rev. Arthur S. Bourinot, 1956.
- T (1955)
Edited
- Rhymes of the French Regime. Toronto: Nelson, 1937.
- Come a Singing! Canadian Folk Songs. Arthur S. Bourinot & Marius Barbeau ed. Arthur LismerArthur LismerArthur Lismer, CC was an English-born Canadian painter and member of the Group of Seven.-Early life:At age 13 he apprenticed at a photo-engraving company. He was awarded a scholarship, and used this time to take evening classes at the Sheffield School of Arts from 1898 until 1905...
illus. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada, 1947. - Edward William Thomson (1849–1924): a bibliography, with notes and some letters (1955)
- Archibald Lampman's Letters to Edward William Thomson (1890-1898). Ottawa: Bourinot, 1956.
- The letters of Edward William Thomson to Archibald Lampman (1891– 97) (1957)
- At the Mermaid Inn, Conducted by A. Lampman, W. W. Campbell, Duncan C. Scott. [Essays having appeared in the Toronto Globe, 1892-93. Ottawa: Bourinot, 1958.
- Some Letters of Duncan Campbell Scott, Archibald Lampman, and Others. Ottawa: Bourinot, 1959.
- More Letters of Duncan Campbell Scott. Ottawa: Arthur S. Bourinot, 1960.
Except where noted, bibliographic information is courtesy the Encyclopedia of Literature.
External links
- "A Legend of Paul Bunyan" by Arthur S. Bourinot
- Arthur S. Bourinot in Canadian Poets - Biography & 5 poems (To the Memory of Rupert Brooke, Autumn Silence, A Flower in the City Street, Returning, The Harvest Wind)