Literature and Nationalism after Confederation

Literature and Nationalism IAlfred C. Bailey after Confederation If a choice had to be made of the year, more than any other, that marked a climax in the development of English-Canadian literature in the nineteenth century it would almost certainly be 1893, for it was then that five of Canada's most accomplished poets completed volumes of verse that reflected the maturing of their powers as creative artists. As we look back from the vantage-point of more than half a century upon the work of Roberts, Lampman, Carman, Scott, and Campbell, we can see that, although earlier writers had enjoyed some successes, the general level of the new work was higher than anything that had gone before. Throughout the eighties and early nineties the poets of the school of Roberts had been engaged in perfecting their craft, and with the possible exception of Scott, it is doubtful whether their work of later date ever much excelled the achievements of that climactic moment. Its significance did not entirely escape the notice of interested Canadians, although they were inclined to magnify it by making brash comparisons with what was being done across the border, where, it is true, a relative dearth had followed hard upon the brilliant expression of the New England genius. "It may not be known to Canadians generally," stated the Rev. George Bryce to the Literary Society of Manitoba College in 1894, "that we have in Canada at present a constellation of poets, with more true power, a loftier note of inspiration, and greater elegance of diction than is to be found in the United States." Three years earlier a Canadian journalist then living in Duluth, Minn., had written to the editor of a Toronto weekly: "It is a matter of pride for every true Canadian that at present much of the healthiest and most virile verse appearing in the leading magazines of this country is the product of Canadian thought and inspiration . There is truly more than promise in Roberts, Lampman, and Campbell, there is present achievement." While Mr. Laurier, when the 409 subject came up in the House, was not prepared to concur in Nicholas Davin's assertion that literature was the life-blood of a people, it was acknowledged that Lampman was a genuine poet, deserving of public support. It is not recorded that anything was done, and interest in the nation's culture apparently went no further than this. Poetry and politics were seldom contingent, although the writers themselves were conscious of the relevance of their work to the processes of the society that had given them birth. "This pouring out of song," wrote one of them, "is a sign and hopeful token of our national life in Canada." The poets were acknowledged to be "the outcome of a hope and belief that Canada has a destiny worthy of the confidence of her sons." The fact of the influence on literature of the national spirit that had been born with Confederation and in its aftermath was thus clearly apprehended. The nature of that infiuence seems to have been iroperfectly understood, even by those who were actively engaged in the attempt to produce a literature that would be worthy of the Canada to which they aspired and distinctive of its life and thought. Conceptions of social evolution that were increasingly in vogue, involving an emphasis on material causes that was characteristic of an age of realism, and mounting international economic contlict, sometimes misled them into believing that when the country reached a certain stage in its growth, a literature of merit would inevitably follow. "In point of time," wrote Graeme Mercer Adam, one-time editor of the now defunct Canadian Monthly and National Review, "the material progress of every country necessarily precedes the intellectual; indeed, they stand to one another somewhat in the relation of cause and effect." While the causal relationship may be conceded, it is doubtful whether any such optimistic assumption of inevitability is warranted by the facts. Economic progress, the formation of a unified state, and a phase of rapid social differentiation were essential precedents to the growth of a national literature, but they could not ensure its occurrence. Theoretically it...