The Gay]Grey Moose: Essays on the Ecologies and Mythologies of Canadian Poetry 1690-1990

341 Pages·1992·18.069 MB·English

by  D.M.R. Bentley

The Gay]Grey Moose
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The GayJGrey
Moose
Essays on the ecologies
and mythologies
of Canadian poetry,
1690-1990
D.M.R. Bentley
University of Ottawa Press
University of Ottawa Press, 1992
Printed and bound in Canada
ISBN 0-7766-0334-5
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bentley, D.M.R.
The gayjgrey moose: essays on the ecologies and mythologies of
Canadian poetry, 1690-1990
ISBN 0-7766-0334-5
1. Landscape in literature. 2. Canada in literature. 3. Canadian
poetry (English). I. Title.
PS8143.B45 1992 C811.09 C92-090192-1
PR9190.2.B45 1992
Cover design: Robert Dolbec
"All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, with-
out permission in writing from the publisher."
For
Michael and Margaret,
Susan,
Michael, Simon, and Diana
Bentley
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How exquisitely the individual Mind
(And the progressive powers perhaps no less
Of the whole species) to the external World
Is fitted:—and how exquisitely, too—
Theme this but little heard of among men—
The external World is fitted to the Mind;
And the creation (by no lower name
Can it be called) which they with blended might
Accomplish:—this is our high argument.
—William Wordsworth, The Excursion
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
SECTION I
Preamble 1
SECTION II
Along the Line of Smoky Hills
The ecology of form in Canadian poetry 15
SECTION III
A Stretching Landscape
Some formalistic continuities in the poetry of the hinterland 43
SECTION IV
Law-abiding and Law-resisting
Baseland and hinterland tendencies in Canadian poetry 77
SECTION V
A Grey Inventory
Early long poems on Canada 117