Anne Marriott (November 5, 1913 – October 10, 1997)Curtis, Jenefer, "Lives Lived" was a Canadian writer who won the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for her book ''Calling Adventurers!'' "She was renowned especially for the narrative poem ''The Wind, Our Enemy,''" which she wrote while still in her twenties.Marriott, Joyce Anne
," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1309.

Life

Because of ''The Wind Our Enemy'', Marriott is often thought to be from one of Canada's

prairie provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

. In fact she was born and raised in Victoria,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

(the daughter of Catherine Heley and Edward Guy Marriott), and lived most of her life in that province. As a girl she spent several summers with relatives on a farm in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, which formed the basis of experience for many of her earlier poems. Marriott took creative writing classes at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. She was active in British Columbia's literary community as "a productive poet and poetry-educator in the 1940s." She served on the editorial board of ''Contemporary Verse,'' which she founded with

Dorothy Livesay Dorothy Kathleen May Livesay, (October 12, 1909 – December 29, 1996) was a Canadian poet who twice won the Governor General's Award in the 1940s, and was "senior woman writer in Canada" during the 1970s and 1980s.Mathews, R.D.. "Dorothy L ...

, Floris McLaren, Doris Ferne and Alan Crawley in 1941.Hilda Thomas,
(Joyce) Anne Marriott
" ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Bookrags.com, Web, May 4, 2010. In 1945 Anne Marriott moved to Ottawa and worked as an editor for the National Film Board. After marrying Gerald McLellan in 1947, Marriott returned with him to British Columbia, where they adopted and raised three children. Marriott worked as a script writer from 1945 to 1949, a reporter and editor from 1950 to 1953 and an assistant librarian from 1953 to 1958."Selected Poetry of Anne Marriott

," Representative Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, Apr. 21, 2011. Marriott remained active in the literary community and prepared multiple scripts for the CBC.Donald, B. "Papers of Anne Marriott", p. 9 Following the 1974 death of her husband, she became involved in producing poetry workshops for young people. In the 1980s Anne Marriott published multiple volumes of poetry and a volume of short stories. Marriott died in Vancouver following a stroke.

Poetry

Marriott is perhaps best known for her "spectacular" long poem, The Wind Our Enemy,'' which she wrote in her twenties. ''The Wind Our Enemy,'' chronicles the devastation of drought on the Canadian prairies during the 1930s. It is seen as a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

classic, utilizing "the most vital elements of the modern tradition." It "is episodic and documentary rather than strictly narrative in form." It uses "heavy

alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...

and repeated sound patterns" in place of rhyme and rhythm. Its ten "sections develop in a mosaic made up of compressed details and dramatized speech. In its colloquial rhythms and its concrete language, the poem expressed for a generation of readers the inarticulate suffering of the prairie farmer who saw his land and his hopes blowing away in a cloud of dust." The poems of ''Calling Adventurers!'' were originally written as choruses for a CBC documentary, "Payload," that in Marriott's words " "celebrated the romance and heroism of the northern 'bush flyer' in the era leading up to World War II," Marriott published two other books of poetry in the 1940s. "Both ''Salt Marsh'' (1942) and ''Sandstone and Other Poems'' (1945) contain some vigorous and effective lyrics inspired by prairie scenes. 'Woodyards in the Rain' and
Prairie Graveyard
' for example, display ... intense feeling." ''Sandstone and Other Poems'' was her "best-known collection." In ''The Circular Coast: Poems New and Selected'' (1981), "the west coast landscape is symbolically identified with the body as the poet seeks, in images which are at once precise and complex, to come to terms with the problems of aging, loneliness, and death." In 1985's ''Letters from Some Islands'', "the poems are about journeys in space and time. Landscapes both strange and familiar are here transformed into metaphors for the aging body."

Honors and awards

*1941

for ''Calling Adventurers!'' *1943 Women's Canadian Club Literary Award *1956 Koerner Foundation scholarship *1958 Ohio Award for Educational Broadcasting

Publications

Poetry collections

*''The Wind Our Enemy'', Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

. *''Calling Adventurers!'', Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

. *''Salt Marsh'', Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

. *''Sandstone and Other Poems'', Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

. *''Countries'', Fredericton, NB: Fiddlehead Poetry Books,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. *''A Swarming in My Mind'', with Joyce Moller. Curriculum Services,

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. *''This West Shore'', Toronto: League of Canadian Poets,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

. *''The Circular Coast: Poems New and Selected'', Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press,

. *''Letters from Some Island: New Poems'', Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. *''Aqua'', Toronto: Wolsak & Wynn,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Fiction collections

*''A Long Way to Oregon: Selected Short Stories'', Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1984. ** Excerpt, in German: ''An einem Sonntagnachmittag,'' transl. Gerhard Böttcher, in ''Die weite Reise. Kanadische Erzählungen und Kurzgeschichten.'' Volk und Welt, Berlin 1974, pp 384 – 393 ''Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy Brock University.''Anne Marriott (1913-1997)
, Canadian Woman Poets, BrockU.ca, Web, Apr. 21, 2011.

References

External links

''Canadian Women Poets''. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
“Marriott, Joyce Anne”
, ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' Retrieved May 4, 2010. * Curtis, Jenefer. "Lives Lived: Joyce Anne Marriott McLellan", ''Globe and Mail'', November 7, 1997, page A18. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
"Inventory of the Anne Marriott Papers, 1922-1989"
Special Collections, University of British Columbia, 1990. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
"(Joyce) Anne Marriott"
, ''Dictionary of Literary Biography''. Retrieved May 4, 2010.

Stubbs, Andrew and Jeanette Stein. ''Canadian Journal of Poetry'' Fall 1984. Vol.15, pages 48–60. Retrieved May 4, 2010.

- Biography and 3 poems (On Reading that I am 'Elderly', Prairie Graveyard, The Wind Our Enemy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Marriott, Anne 1913 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian modernist poets Modernist women writers Canadian women poets Governor General's Award–winning poets Writers from Victoria, British Columbia Poets from British Columbia