New Provinces (poetry anthology)
Encyclopedia
New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors was an anthology of Canadian poetry published in the 1930s, anonymously edited by F.R. Scott
assisted by Leo Kennedy
and A.J.M. Smith
. The first anthology of Canadian modernist poetry
, it has been hailed as a "landmark anthology" and a "milestone selection of modernist Canadian verse".
poet A.M. Klein
were all members of the Montreal Group
of poets centred around that city's McGill University
in the 1920s and early 1930s. Smith and Scott had co-edited the McGill Fortnightly Review; Kennedy and Klein were respectively editors of the Reviews successor journals, the Canadian Mercury and the McGilliad. The four poets began assembling an anthology of poetry in 1931, and in 1934 invited Toronto
poets Robert Finch
and E. J. Pratt
to join them.
Scott and Smith disagreed over also inviting Toronto poet Dorothy Livesay
. "Smith twice explicitly suggested to Scott that Livesay’s poetry be included in the volume. On both occasions Scott refused, saying that Livesay’s work would be appropriate for a second, 'more political' edition of New Provinces at a later date." (Scott was a founder of the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
, while Livesay was a member of the Communist Party of Canada
.) Much later, though, Livesay told an interviewer that Scott had wanted to include her work, and that it was Pratt who had vetoed it.
There were other disagreements between Scott and Smith. "Smith wanted the volume to offer an up-to-the minute statement on the contributors' work, while Scott wanted it to offer a more historical statement on the development of the contributors' poetry, in hopes of calling forth other, unknown modernist poets-in-the-making."
In line with the anthology he envisioned, Smith penned a Preface in 1934 that was a manifesto of modernism and a rejection of all that had gone before. In Canadian poetry, he mocked, "The most popular experience is to be pained, hurt, stabbed or seared by beauty—preferably by the yellow flame of a crocus in the spring or the red flame of a maple leaf in the autumn." "The fundamental criticism that must be brought against Canadian poetry as a whole," he added, "is that it ignores the intelligence. And as a result it is dead." Scott had trouble reconciling that tone with the anthology he planned. "You will have to be careful not to make claims for a greater radicalism than this volume will show,” he warned Smith.
For his part, Smith objected to the inclusion of the Toronto poets, describing Finch's imagery as "trite and undistinguished" and some of his lines as "distressingly Emily Dickensian," and calling Pratt "the weakest member of the group—judging of course by his inclusions only." However, Scott held firm on keeping both Pratt and Finch.
The final selection was: twelve poems by Smith, eleven by Finch, ten by Kennedy, ten by Scott, eight by Pratt, and two longer poems ("Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens" and "Soirée of Velvel Kleinburger" ) by Klein.
had published Pratt’s poetry in the past, and Pratt approached Macmillan’s literary editor Hugh Eayrs on behalf of the New Provinces group" in 1934.
One casualty of Pratt's involvement was Smith's Preface. Pratt, who was editor of the Canadian Poetry Magazine, "objected to the Preface because its radical pronouncements could alienate half his magazine’s readers, and Scott wrote to Finch, 'We would not willingly compromise him'." Finch seconded Pratt's objections, prompting Smith to write to Scott: "Who the hell are Finch and Pratt to object to the preface? If I am willing to let my poems come out in the same book with Pratt’s insipid stuff, he can take the preface." However, Smith's Preface was also "rejected by the publisher as being too impatient with traditional Canadian poetry," and it was dropped, with Scott writing a more "modest" Preface instead.
When Macmillan also demanded "that the poets pay $200 toward the production of 650 to 675 copies of New Provinces, Scott looked elsewhere, and submitted the manuscript to the Dent publishing company. At this point, Pratt threatened to leave the project if Macmillan did not publish it.... In the end, Scott paid the bulk of the cost, $120, while Finch and Pratt each contributed $40. Smith, who could easily afford the fee, refused to contribute because of the argument over his Preface."
New Provinces finally was printed in a limited run of 500 copies, of which only 250 were bound for sale, on May 9-11, 1936. All told, it "took 4 years of negotiation and pleading on the part of Scott before it was finally published by the Macmillan Co. of Canada."
While the book sold poorly, it had an effect on those who read it. "The poems in New provinces had an impact on Canadian verse far beyond any prefatorial pronouncements: in its implicit call for new findings and new attitudes in Canadian writing, it might be likened to the effect of the Wordsworth
-Coleridge
Lyrical ballads
in 1798
on the Romantics
.... The effect of New provinces was that it established the ‘Montreal Group’ as the Canadian avant-garde of its time."
, as part of its "Literature in Canada" series. Smith's unused Preface (which had been published in 1964 as the "Rejected Preface") was incorporated into the new work as an "important feature." As well, a new introduction was written by editor Michael Gnarowski.
Later opinions were less praising. The 1997 Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature called the book "commercially unsuccessful but critically important," while in 2003 Canadian Poetry published an essay "designed to question a literary history which has canonized an unsuccessful volume of poetry published by a small group of Canadian modernists who excluded female poets."
Despite poor sales and charges of sexism, though, New Provinces place in the modern Canadian canon looks assured. Besides its historical status as the first anthology of modern Canadian poetry, it is also notable for its contributors. Every contributor except for Kennedy (who never published another book) went on to win the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for poetry.
As only 350 copies of the first edition were ever bound, it is extremely rare. A copy was being offered for sale in 2011 for $750.
F. R. Scott
Francis Reginald Scott, CC commonly known as Frank Scott or F.R. Scott, was a Canadian poet, intellectual and constitutional expert. He helped found the first Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and its successor, the New Democratic Party...
assisted by Leo Kennedy
Leo Kennedy
John Leo Kennedy was a Canadian poet and critic, who in the 1920s and 1930s was a member of the Montreal Group of modernist poets...
and A.J.M. Smith
A. J. M. Smith
Arthur James Marshall Smith was a Canadian poet and anthologist. He "was a prominent member of a group of Montreal poets" -- the Montreal Group, which included Leon Edel, Leo Kennedy, A.M. Klein, and F.R...
. The first anthology of Canadian modernist poetry
Modernist 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...
, it has been hailed as a "landmark anthology" and a "milestone selection of modernist Canadian verse".
History
Kennedy, Scott, Smith, and fellow MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
poet A.M. Klein
A. M. Klein
Abraham Moses Klein was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer, and lawyer. He has been called "One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."...
were all members of the Montreal Group
Montreal Group
The Montreal Group was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-1920s at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, which included Leon Edel, John Glassco, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott, and A.J.M. Smith. Most of the group's members attended McGill as undergraduates. Due to this...
of poets centred around that city's McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in the 1920s and early 1930s. Smith and Scott had co-edited the McGill Fortnightly Review; Kennedy and Klein were respectively editors of the Reviews successor journals, the Canadian Mercury and the McGilliad. The four poets began assembling an anthology of poetry in 1931, and in 1934 invited Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
poets Robert Finch
Robert Finch
Robert Hutchison Finch was a Republican politician from La Canada Flintridge, California. Born in Tempe, Arizona, he was the son of Robert L. Finch, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives....
and E. J. Pratt
E. J. Pratt
Edwin John Dove Pratt, FRSC , who published as E. J. Pratt, was "the leading Canadian poet of his time." He was a Canadian poet originally from Newfoundland who lived most of his life in Toronto, Ontario...
to join them.
Scott and Smith disagreed over also inviting Toronto poet 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:...
. "Smith twice explicitly suggested to Scott that Livesay’s poetry be included in the volume. On both occasions Scott refused, saying that Livesay’s work would be appropriate for a second, 'more political' edition of New Provinces at a later date." (Scott was a founder of the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
, while Livesay was a member of the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
.) Much later, though, Livesay told an interviewer that Scott had wanted to include her work, and that it was Pratt who had vetoed it.
There were other disagreements between Scott and Smith. "Smith wanted the volume to offer an up-to-the minute statement on the contributors' work, while Scott wanted it to offer a more historical statement on the development of the contributors' poetry, in hopes of calling forth other, unknown modernist poets-in-the-making."
In line with the anthology he envisioned, Smith penned a Preface in 1934 that was a manifesto of modernism and a rejection of all that had gone before. In Canadian poetry, he mocked, "The most popular experience is to be pained, hurt, stabbed or seared by beauty—preferably by the yellow flame of a crocus in the spring or the red flame of a maple leaf in the autumn." "The fundamental criticism that must be brought against Canadian poetry as a whole," he added, "is that it ignores the intelligence. And as a result it is dead." Scott had trouble reconciling that tone with the anthology he planned. "You will have to be careful not to make claims for a greater radicalism than this volume will show,” he warned Smith.
For his part, Smith objected to the inclusion of the Toronto poets, describing Finch's imagery as "trite and undistinguished" and some of his lines as "distressingly Emily Dickensian," and calling Pratt "the weakest member of the group—judging of course by his inclusions only." However, Scott held firm on keeping both Pratt and Finch.
The final selection was: twelve poems by Smith, eleven by Finch, ten by Kennedy, ten by Scott, eight by Pratt, and two longer poems ("Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens" and "Soirée of Velvel Kleinburger" ) by Klein.
1936 edition
Scott may have insisted on keeping Pratt to increase the chances of publication. Of the Montreal poets, only Kennedy had previously published a single volume of verse; in contrast, Pratt had been releasing books of poetry for over a decade. "Macmillan CanadaMacmillan of Canada
Macmillan of Canada was a Canadian publishing house.The company was founded in 1905 as the Canadian arm of the English publisher Macmillan. At that time it was known as the "Macmillan Company of Canada Ltd." In the course of its existence the name changed to "Macmillan of Canada" and "Macmillan...
had published Pratt’s poetry in the past, and Pratt approached Macmillan’s literary editor Hugh Eayrs on behalf of the New Provinces group" in 1934.
One casualty of Pratt's involvement was Smith's Preface. Pratt, who was editor of the Canadian Poetry Magazine, "objected to the Preface because its radical pronouncements could alienate half his magazine’s readers, and Scott wrote to Finch, 'We would not willingly compromise him'." Finch seconded Pratt's objections, prompting Smith to write to Scott: "Who the hell are Finch and Pratt to object to the preface? If I am willing to let my poems come out in the same book with Pratt’s insipid stuff, he can take the preface." However, Smith's Preface was also "rejected by the publisher as being too impatient with traditional Canadian poetry," and it was dropped, with Scott writing a more "modest" Preface instead.
When Macmillan also demanded "that the poets pay $200 toward the production of 650 to 675 copies of New Provinces, Scott looked elsewhere, and submitted the manuscript to the Dent publishing company. At this point, Pratt threatened to leave the project if Macmillan did not publish it.... In the end, Scott paid the bulk of the cost, $120, while Finch and Pratt each contributed $40. Smith, who could easily afford the fee, refused to contribute because of the argument over his Preface."
New Provinces finally was printed in a limited run of 500 copies, of which only 250 were bound for sale, on May 9-11, 1936. All told, it "took 4 years of negotiation and pleading on the part of Scott before it was finally published by the Macmillan Co. of Canada."
While the book sold poorly, it had an effect on those who read it. "The poems in New provinces had an impact on Canadian verse far beyond any prefatorial pronouncements: in its implicit call for new findings and new attitudes in Canadian writing, it might be likened to the effect of the Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
-Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
Lyrical ballads
Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature...
in 1798
1798 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* William Wordsworth begins writing the first version of The Prelude, finishing it in two parts in 1799. This version describes the growth of his understanding up to age 17, when he departed for...
on the Romantics
Romantic poetry
Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...
.... The effect of New provinces was that it established the ‘Montreal Group’ as the Canadian avant-garde of its time."
1976 edition
New Provinces was republished in 1976 by the University of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto Press
University of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
, as part of its "Literature in Canada" series. Smith's unused Preface (which had been published in 1964 as the "Rejected Preface") was incorporated into the new work as an "important feature." As well, a new introduction was written by editor Michael Gnarowski.
Appraisal
The flyleaf of the 1976 edition called New Provinces "a monument in Canadian literature," and in his introduction, Gnarowski described it as "a singular event in a literary process which stemmed from the origins of Canadian modernism." Others have made similar claims about its significance: "In the Literary History of Canada, Munro Beattie calls New Provinces 'a literary milestone,' and 'a literary signpost' (753,754). More recently, Brian Trehearne describes New Provinces as 'the landmark publication that signalled the demise of the old school of Canadian poetry' (Aestheticism 115)." In The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, literary critic and anthologist W.H. New called New Provinces "an anthology that has between its covers the most famous enactment of modernist values in Canada."Later opinions were less praising. The 1997 Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature called the book "commercially unsuccessful but critically important," while in 2003 Canadian Poetry published an essay "designed to question a literary history which has canonized an unsuccessful volume of poetry published by a small group of Canadian modernists who excluded female poets."
Despite poor sales and charges of sexism, though, New Provinces place in the modern Canadian canon looks assured. Besides its historical status as the first anthology of modern Canadian poetry, it is also notable for its contributors. Every contributor except for Kennedy (who never published another book) went on to win the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for poetry.
As only 350 copies of the first edition were ever bound, it is extremely rare. A copy was being offered for sale in 2011 for $750.