Two Canadian Poets: A Lecture by Archibald Lampman

TWO CANADIAN POETS: A LECTURE1 BY ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN (With a prefatory note by E. K. BROWN) THEfollowing lecture is the mostextendedpiece ofliterary criticism by drchibald Lampman yet to appear. It contains notable ideas aboutthe nation andthe nationalliterature, expresses a many-sidedjudg- · ment of Sir Charles Roberts, which will surprise those who have thought of thepoets born in the sixties as a group of like-minded men, and closes with an enthusiastic tribute to George Frederick Cameron, whose fame has been under a long eclipse. . Since Lampman was composing not an essay but a lecture, he allowed himself to quote very freely, ·and many of the passages quoted (sometimes almost witl10ut comment) are very long; doubtless he depended up'on his voice to bring out the importance and relevance of the material, and he may have intended to improvise comment as he went along. I n printing the lecture I have suppressed some of the longer quotations, as tending to slow unduly the movement of his thought, or even to obscure it. Punctuation apart, I have made no further change in the manuscript except in supplying a word here and the·re; these I. have set off by square brackets. I wish to thank Mr and Mrs T. R. L. MaCinnes, the son-in-law and daughter of the poet, for their kindness in lending to me the note-book containing the text of the lecture and in authorizing the p1·esent publication. This pa,·ticular note-book was not known to me at the time when my essays on Archibald Lampman in At the Long Sault and On Canadian Poetry went to pres_s. * "' * In the last twenty years great advances have been made in .this country, and many things have been accomplished which are a ~ource of hope and comfort to those who are beginning to feel for Canada t he enthusiasm of Fatherland. Already there are many among us whose fathers and grandfathers have livene 9VfS. Note by C. J. C[ameron]). 420 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORO~TO QUARTERLY Wisdom immortal from immortal Jove Shadows more beauty with her virgin brows Than is between the pleasant ·breasts of Love - Who makes at will and breaks her random vows, And hath a name all earthly names above: The noblest of her offspring; she controls The time~ and seasons-yea, all things that are The head~ and hands of men, their hearts and souls, And all that moves upon our mother star, And all that pauses 'twixt the peaceful poles. Nor is sne dark and dista11t, coy and cold,But all in all to all that seek her shrine In utter truth, like to that king of old Who wooed and won, yet by no right divine. The following lyric, entitled "Standing on Tiptoe," written in the very month of his death, is exquisite for the breadth and beauty of the idea and the austere, clean-cut grace of its expression: Standing on tiptoe ever since my youth, Striving to grasp the future just above, I hold at length the.only future-Truth, And Truth is Love. I feel as one, who being awhile confined Sees drop to dust about him all ,his bars:The clay grows less, and, leaving it, the mind Dwells with the stars. Such a poem as that deserves place with Landor's famous quatrain- [ strove with none, for none was worth my strife; Nature I loved, and next to Nature, Art: I warmed both 'hands bef~re the fire of life; It sinks, and I am ready to depa'rt. The following stanzas will convey some idea of the passionateness of Cameron's meiancholy, a sadness that as he grew older seems to have darkened to despair. All heart-sick, and head-sick, and weary, Sore wounded, oft struck in the strife, . I a~k is there end of this dreary Dark pilgrimage called by us Life? I ask is there end of it-any_? If any, when comes it anigh? I would die not the one deach, but many To know and be sure I should die. • • LAMPMAN ON TWO POETS To know that. somewhere in the distance When nature shall take back my breath...