Abstract

Canadian English poetry has a rich history dating back to the early 19th century,spanning over two centuries from the 1820s.This study delves into how Canadian poetry evolved from colonialism to nationalism and then multiculturalism.It does so by employing Andrew Benedict’s concept of the“national imagination”and analyzing influential poetry schools and representative works.From a linear perspective,this book comprises the following parts:the pioneers’ poetry recounting the new experiences of the new land;the Confederation poets’ construction of national identity;further exploration of “Canadianness” in the first half of the 20th century;the nationalist fervor risen by the centennial celebration in the 1960s;and the new writing in the first decades of the 21st century.Additionally,the book underscores the regionalism and multiculturalism of contemporary Canadian poetry by examining the poetry of different regions,encompassing the Maritime,West Coast,Ontario,the Prairies,and various ethnic communities,such as Chinese-Canadians,African-Canadians,and indigenous peoples.

The main body of the book is divided into the following four parts:

The first section,“Towards the ‘Community’:Historical Politics and Nationa-Building,” deals with the concept of the national community of earlier Canadian poetry from the perspective of Canadian history and politics.This part discusses three critical periods in Canadian history:1.The Confederation Period:The narrative and thematic changes of these Canadian Pacific Railway poems paralleled the history of Chinese immigration policies.By studying the connection of the poetry and the policies,it is easier to understand the change in Canadian attitude towards Chinese as well as the shift from homogeneity to multiculturalism throughout the 150-year history of Canada as a nation.2.Post-Confederation Period:a study of the parallel between Duncan Campbell Scott’s poems and Canadian Indigenous policies during the end of the 19th century to early 20th century,with an emphasis on its impact on Canada’s “imagined community.” 3.Centennial period:Poems with the theme of the Vietnam War not only documented the preoccupations of the 1960s,and also had a significant impact on the ideological shift and the new ideas of Canada’s national identity.

The second section,“The Wind and the Snow:Natural and Regionalism,” mainly discusses three aspects:region （West）,climate （winter）,and nature （mainly from the pioneers’ perspective）,including:1.Robert Kroetsch’s poetic representation of the Canadian Prairies;2.“cold imagination” and the winter theme;3.the dynamic between man and nature in Canadian poetry,focusing on the analysis of wilderness depiction.The primary purpose of this section is to explore regional differences and community imagination from the perspective of regionalism.The portrait of this vast cold northern land in Canadian poetry echoes several central traits of Canadian literature:Regionalism,the recurring theme of winter,and a strong emphasis on landscape.

The third section,“Post-Modernism:Forms,Narratives,and Cosmopolitanism,” looks at the form and technique of contemporary poetry as well as a discussion of the new status and trends of contemporary Canadian English poetry in terms of new techniques and concepts.This part includes:1.Canadian “documentary poetry,” which is essentially a parodic retelling of the stories by deconstructing three “non-fictional” genres:autobiography,journal,and work collection. 2.Innovation of narrative methods of long poems:the use of “phototextuality” as a narrative method in the long poems indicates the innovative trait of the genre of poetic novels.To some degree,the innovation also reflects some internal qualities of poetry,even the postmodernist trend in contemporary Canadian poetry.3.Blues in African-Canadian poetry:the exploitation of blues elements——such as the technique of “crying” ——in the poetry of African-American poet George Eliot Clark. Finally,while studying the narratives and forms of poetry,this section considers the conflicting and balancing interaction between nationalism and cosmopolitanism;and,ultimately,how the concept of “imagined community” will evolve in the new century.

The fourth section,“Approaching Diversity:Multiculturalism and Ethnic Rewriting,” investigates the poetry of different ethnic groups in the context of multiculturalism.Canadian minorities,including Native Americans,African-Canadians,Asian-Canadians,women,and LGBTQ communities,have expressed their own perspectives through poetry,particularly following the implementation of multiculturalism policies in the 1970s.Different ethnic voices make a significant impact on the previously homogenous Canadian concept of the imagined community and are apparently an improvement and evolution to it.This section selects three minority groups in contemporary Canada,namely Indigenous people,African-Canadian,and Chinese-Canadian,to explore the construction of ethnic identity in contemporary English Canadian poetry.

As can be seen from the above contents of the four sections,the structure of this monograph roughly follows the chronological order.It highlights the critical periods in the history of Canadian literature:the immigration time in the 19th century;the early 20th century;the “Canadian Renaissance” period in the 1960s and the first two decades of the 21st century,analyzing the poetic works of the most established poets,e.g.,Duncan Campbell Scott,E.J.Platt,Earle Birney,Robert Kroetsch,P.K.Page,Irving Layton,Margaret Atwood,Fred Wah,Michael Ondaatje,Dionne Brand,Ann Carson,and George Eliott Clarke. In the 200-year history of English Canadian poetry in which both continuity and defiance can be seen,time provides different interpretations for the term “imagined community” as the historical context changes. Moreover,it reflects Canada’s cultural and psychological characteristics that are different from those of the United Kingdom and the United States.Therefore,the book not only emphasizes the consciousness of nationality construction at the earlier stage but also reveals the evolution shift from “community” to “pluralism” and from “nationalism” to “post-nationalism” in the later phase.

Key words:Canada;English poetry;Imagined community