reviews

The first edition of A. J. M Smith's The Book of Canadian Poetry (1943) became the standar edition of Canadian poetry in English.

In an article entitle 'The Canadian Poet's Predicament' in the Toronto Quarterly (26: 284-295, April 1957), James Reaney wrote that Canadian poets face the challenge of writing for an audience whose 'tase hasn't been sufficiently organized yet.'

Intelligence, sincerity, craftsmanship and honesty in whatever form of poetry are worth a reader's notice.

I assume that Mr Hine's title, which is itself the title of an obscure eighteenth century carol in which a well-informed crane instructs a crow in several matters pertaining to the nativity and earliest days of Jesus, is meant to be a clue to the central theme of this book.

The book jacket of this anthology describes it as a 'stimulating collection, the vigour and quality of which may well come as a surprise to readers in other countries not yet fully aware of this strong flowering of poetry in twentieth-century Australia.'

This collection of seventy-nine lyrics is also, according to its publicity, 'a cycle that sets forth in terms of mythological symbol ...

Indian lore from the coast of British Columbia furnishes the subject matter and inspiration for the poems in this book.

The late John Sutherland's book on Pratt is an exciting piece of criticism, perhaps the most exciting critical monograph ever to be written in Canada.

'When I was a little lad,' I read with delight scattered poems by Marjorie Pickthall in the Canadian school texts.