History of Canadian History of Canadian LiteratureLiterature

New Found Lands to Canada c. 1500-1860’sNew Found Lands to Canada c. 1500-1860’s

• 16th century – most literature writings of exploration

• diaries, letters, poems

• vivid detail of hardships and extraordinary situations

• focus on climate

• 1769 - first Canadian novel published by Frances Brooke The History of Emily Montague

• consists of exchange of letters between Canada and England

• Canada’s landscape is described in romantic terms

• “There is no description above nature. The lovely luxuriance, the wild magnificence of Canada would do honor to the finest genius on earth either in landscape poetry or painting: I never think of the scenes there without feeling my imagination become inflamed.”

The History of Emily Montague

• other writers not so charitable to the ruggedness of the land

• Ex. Susanna Moodie (1803-1885)

• Roughing it in the Bush (1852)- warning to perspective settlers about the deceptive appearances they would find in Canada.

• eventually was won over by this country

In general terms, writing of this early period

• chronicled ventures in the wilderness- pioneer journals

• described stoic endurance and personal regeneration

• showed an attraction to primitivism

• attempted to come to terms with the contradictions of the Canadian landscape and their models from the past

Confederation Period (1860’s – 1890’s)Confederation Period (1860’s – 1890’s)

• 1867 – a new sense of nationality born

• literature changed

• romantic style combined with nationalistic themes

• Confederation Poets : Archibald Lampman, Duncan Campbell Scott, Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman

• celebrated political union, physical union of the country (railroad), Canada’s natural beauty.