Article Carman example essay topic

Article # 1 Summary In Roughing it With the Moodies By Edward A. McCourt The article In Roughing it With the Moodies is an explanatory essay on the life of female author Susanna Moodie and her family. Most of her life was spent I he backwoods of Ontario with her family. Susanna Moodie was born in England. She was born into a wealthy family and was the youngest of five children. She received a good education, more so than any of the other girls of her social standing. While in England she published a variety of poems and childrens stories.

She married J.W. Dunbar, a half pay officer with the English army. They came to Canada because the British government offered a tax free land grant to anyone willing to move, army officers also received a full title. When she arrived in Canada her family had to travel through Montreal to arrive a Port Hope where they were to be settled only someone was living there until the snow arrived. They were forced to live in a log barn. She made an effort to be friendly with her neighbours. They were always taking advantage of the newcomers by borrowing things from them.

They finally decided to give up the farm and moved into the backwoods of Ontario, just north of Peterborough. Susanna heavily objected the move, but to no avail. It is stated that Susanna had a better sense for business than her husband did. The Moodies were unsuited for life in the backwoods. For the first year the Moodies lived in what some would call luxury. They lived in a log house and had a male and female servant.

After a year of crop failure the Moodies had to fire their servants and work the land themselves. They did not mind the work. The family sometimes lived on eating bread and frozen potatoes, they had none of the luxuries which they wer once accustomed to. Susanna husband then got a job in Toronto coinciding with the Rebellion of 1837. Susanna wrote to Sir Georges Arthur, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada about keeping her husband at work for a longer period. She was left alone to tend the farm and take care of the family.

She and her children developed near fatal illnesses but luckily recovered. Her husband later got a job in Bellville and the family moved there in 1839. Roughing it in the Bush was written during the harsh winter of 1839. It was then published in 1852.

She uses her ordeal in the backwoods of Canada to write her story. She uses the many interesting people, which she faced in every day life as characters in Roughing it in the Bush. She died at the age of 83. Moodie feels that through her experience in the backwoods of Canada she has grown as an individual and grown to love Canada, her home. Critique In Roughing it with the Moodies The article In Roughing it with the Moodies, by Edward A. McCourt, reveals the life and times of author Susanna Moodie. It is written in such a way that it is explanatory of the details of Moodies life, both before she arrived in Canada and after her family settled in Ontario.

This article was extremely easy to understand because the language McCourt uses is not complicated and heavily over worded. It gave me an important understanding of the life of Susanna Moodie and what she had to go through to survive in Upper Canada in the Nineteenth Century. It also helps me to better understand the technique and subjects, which she uses for her works. She has experienced everything that she is writing, therefore making it more interesting to read and fully understand...

It assists in the appreciation of her writing and the life she led. I have always felt that Susanna Moodie has been a very remarkable and interesting person. In my past studies and research on the womens rights movement, I found that she was womens rights advocate. She was a very dominant figure, who helped women accomplish many goals and aspirations. I feel that she is a very strong woman. It is because of my past interests with Moodie that I have chosen further research her.

I do not feel that the article was self contained. I fully understood the point the author was trying to convey. I did not have to consult any further sources because the article was straight forward and to the point, talking about Moodies life. I have already had past experience in researching this author, so it was not necessary for me to consult any other sources. This article ahs helped me to better understand the writings of Susanna Moodie. Article #2 Summary Carman By the Sea By M.M. Ross Bliss Carman has gone from one of the finest Canadian poets of his time to being criticized because of his technique and lack of appreciation for his works.

Carman has been, scrutinized by Canadian Nationalists because he had no sensibility to Canada. Carmans use of the maple tree can be seen as Canadian but it is stated that the maple tree was grown in a Connecticut garden and not in Canada at all. M.M. Ross feelings are that Carman was not a Canadian in any sense of the word. He did not live in Canada he only came here for lectures and to be buried. He was not a typical Canadian and had no sense of patriotism. He never really felt at home in any part of Canada.

In his writings he never mentions Ontario. This to the Canadian reader and critique is what makes him fall idle to the expectations of a true Canadian. In reading Carmans works Ross finds that the landscape of poetry is not transcendental and foreign. Ross states in Carman By the Sea that this is not Canadian. Carman does not mention true Canadian landmarks such as the Georgian Bay, or Muskoka in his works. Ross discusses poets from other countries being more patriotic and Canada driven than Carman, and considers then true Canadian poets.

Ross confers about reading Carmans works with a bias. Although he found that he liked and enjoyed reading Carmans literature. Ross found that Carmans works were full of the sea and talked about the New Brunswick coast and the rock of Saint John. Ross concludes that Carman is original but that he hides his style by using single stanzas and phrases and that this is why the magic of his writing gets lost. Critique Carman by the Sea Carman by the Sea, dictates Bliss Carmans rise and fall in Canadian literature. Written by M.M. Ross, this article has shown that Carman was not the Canadian author and that he does not pride himself in being Canadian.

At times the language Ross uses is difficult to understand but I think that he made his point clear that there are many critiques that think that Carmans work is by far not patriotic. I do not think that to be a Canadian author one must write about all things that are Canadian, as long as the author fells what they are writing and trying to portray. Through reading this, I gained the sense that Carman did this in terms of his writing. Furthermore, this article did not help me to understand Carmans writing more. If anything it somewhat confused me because at one point Ross states that Carman is not patriotic enough, but on the other hand he praises Carmans writing. The article also made me read Carmans works with a bias in the back of my mind, since he states that he too read with a bias.

This article has confirmed the previous myths that I have heard about Carman not being a true Canadian writer, but I do not agree with these findings. I feel that everyone has their own opinions and are entitles to them. Moreover the article did not want to make e accumulate and research Carman further. I found that through this article Carman did not experience a very exciting life, certainly not one that I would be interested in pursuing. Carman by the Sea did mot give extensive biographical information, which I found disappointing. I would have liked the article to contain more references to his life and his background, it might have changed my perspective on the views which were entertained in the article.

Furthermore, I feel that Carman is not an author, which appeals to my particular literary preferences. I would not on the basis of this article want to read Carmans works extensively. Article #3 Summary Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and his Time By Phelan Edgar Charles G.D. Roberts was an essential figure around the commencement of poetry. Young poets of today should be thankful and appreciative to Roberts for his great influence.

Pelham Edgar, talks about the importance of Roberts achievement and development. Roberts father Canon George Goodridge Roberts was a gigantic influence of his sons early, developed literary ambitions. Roberts was gentle, compassionate and he was very devoted to his family. He inherited his literary genes from his mother a descendant of the Concord family Bliss. Her older sister was mother of Bliss Carman, which made Roberts and he first cousins. Roberts was a naturalist, he loved the wildness and danger of the wilderness.

Even as he moved from Canada later in life, he still remembered in detail, the countryside he passionately loved. Canadian nationality was very important and danger of the wilderness. Canadian nationality was very important part of Roberts life. He received education in collegiate school and at the University of New Brunswick. Edgar states that in the beginning it did not occur to Roberts to bring Canadian topics into his poems. It was not until later that he began to incorporate this subject into his writing.

Roberts taught briefly at Chatham and Fredericton, then he went on to be an editor of Godwin Smiths The Week. He finally graduated from University in 1885. He enjoyed writing verse in his spare time. Roberts finally begins to write about the Canadian scene, in Diverse Tones. Edgar states that no other poet since Roberts has been as artistically observant or has revealed resonant dactylic hexameters of the Tantra Mar. Roberts became a professor at Kings College from 1885 to 1895. After ten years he resigned and moved to Fredericton.

In 1897, Roberts went to New York and was the assistant editor of The Illustrated American. While in New York he published The Book of Rose, and New Poems. Twenty-eight years passed before he moved back to Canada and settled. Edgar states that although verse was Roberts favourite, he excelled most in poetry. Roberts considered himself a good woodsman, canoeist, dancer, but he has never claimed supremacy among Canadian poets.

He prides himself in his poetry and takes it very seriously. The two poems, which are most significant to Roberts, are Ave and The Iceberg. Lastly, Edgar states that he is extremely happy that in the end Roberts found his way home. Critique Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and his Time In reading Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and his Time, I found that Roberts was an extraordinary individual who contributed outright to the Canadian community. The language, which Pelham Edgar uses, is at times very difficult to understand.

Although I understood what the article was about, it was not a very smooth read. There was some particular wording that was difficult o comprehend. The article helped me to understand the life Roberts lived and the hardships he encountered along the way. The article served as a biographical document as well as a positive critique towards Roberts and his works. It helped me to appreciate Roberts more because I had an idea of what his life was like and the events that lead up to each of his works.

Furthermore, I do not think that this article has dispelled any myths or fallacies. I am however disappointed that Edgar did not talk by any means of Roberts twenty-eight years in New York. I have heard many stories about what had happened, but I would have liked to have these stories confirmed. Moreover, Edgar article gave an extensive bibliography of Roberts life. I enjoyed discovering what Roberts did during his life. That he was a traveling man, but that he always knew that Canada was his true home and that he could always come back to it.

Edgar did a fantastic job in logging Roberts jobs and his publishing dates. I think that it is always interesting to hear the story behind the poems because most of the time an authors life is depicted in their writings. No I did not have to make references to other sources in order to fully comprehend the article. I found the article interesting and the only way I would read another article is to find more information on this amazing author. I feel that Edgar did the best job he could in incorporating biography and fact.

Sir Charles G.D. Roberts is certainly a true poetic hero of his time.

Bibliography

Edgar, Pelham. Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and his Time. University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 13. University of Toronto Press: Toronto. Ross, M... Carman by the Sea. Dalhousie Review, Vol. 27. The Rev Publishing Company: Halifax, 1947-48.
McCourt, Edward. Roughing it with the Moodies. Queens Quarterly, Vol. 52. Kingston, 1945-46.