Leo Kennedy
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John Leo Kennedy (August 22, 1907 – 2000) was a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
poet and critic, who in the 1920s and 1930s was a member of the
Montreal Group The Montreal Group, sometimes referred to as the McGill Group or McGill Movement,Dean Irvine,Montreal Group" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian History''. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011. was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-192 ...
of
modernist poets This is a list of major poets of the Modernist poetry. English-language Modernist poets * Marion Angus *W. H. Auden *Djuna Barnes *Rupert Brooke *Basil Bunting *Hart Crane *E. E. Cummings * H.D. *Cecil Day-Lewis *T. S. Eliot * Roy Fisher *Robe ...
. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' says of him that "Kennedy helped change the direction of
Canadian poetry Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigen ...
in the 1920s."


Life

Born in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, Kennedy emigrated with his family – his father, John Kennedy, a
ship chandler A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships. Synopsis For traditional sailing ships, items that could be found in a chandlery include sail-cloth, rosin, turpentine, tar, pitch, linseed oil ...
, and his mother, Lillian Bullen – to Canada in 1912.W. H. New
Kennedy, John Leo
''Encyclopedia of Canadian Literature''. McLelland & Stewart, Toronto 2002, 576. Google Books, Web, April 2, 2011
Leo Kennedy quit school at 14, after having to repeat Grade 6; "he took to the sea and held a variety of jobs." In the mid-1920s Kennedy was writing an advice column for the ''
Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English language, English-language Canada, Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950 ...
'' under the name "Helen Laurence." In the early 1920s he was writing an
advice column An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are w ...
for the ''
Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English language, English-language Canada, Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950 ...
''.Brian Trehearne,
Leo Kennedy 1907-2000
" ''Canadian Poetry 1920 to 1960'', Toronto, McLelland & Stewart, 2010), 183). Google Books, Web, Apr. 2, 2011.
At the same time, "he was admitted to the
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
campus of Laval (now the
Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...
), where he studied English for two years."


Montreal Group

"While working at various jobs, Kennedy became affiliated with
Leon Edel Joseph Leon Edel (1907 – 1997) was an American/Canadian literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls Edel "the foremost 20th-century authority ...
and others in the McGill Group" or Montreal Group. Becoming a "friend of A. J. M. Smith,
F. R. Scott Francis Reginald Scott (1899–1985), commonly known as Frank Scott or F. R. Scott, was a lawyer, Canadian poet, intellectual, and constitutional scholar. He helped found the first Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonw ...
, A. M. Klein, and Leon Edel, he contributed to the ''McGill Literary Supplement'' and then to its replacements, the ''McGill Fortnightly Review'', and ''Canadian Mercury''." After the ''Fortnightly'' ceased in 1927, Kennedy and Scott founded the ''Canadian Mercury'' in 1928, which put out seven issues through 1929: "though short-lived, the magazine published important work by the editors (including Kennedy's manifesto 'The Future of Canadian Literature') as well as by Smith and A.M. Klein."


Publication and radicalization

The Crash of 1929 destroyed the ''Mercury'', but Kennedy continued to write and publish. "During the Depression he regularly contributed poems, short stories, and essays to the ''
Canadian Forum The ''Canadian Forum'' was a literary, cultural and political publication and Canada's longest running continually published political magazine (1920–2000). History and profile ''The Canadian Forum'', A Monthly Journal of Literature and Public ...
'' and '' Saturday Night''." By that time he was a family man, with a wife, Miriam, and a son, Stephen. In 1931 Kennedy became friends with novelist and poet Raymond Knister when the latter moved to Montreal. Kennedy and Knister began planning an anthology, similar to Knister's ''Canadian Short Stories'' (1928), of Canadian
modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in quest of the critic setti ...
.W.H. New,
Knister, John Raymond
" ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002, 586. Google Books, Web, Apr. 1, 2011
Knister died the next year, but Scott and Smith got involved in the project. In 1933, at the urging of poet E.J. Pratt, Macmillan published ''The Shrouding''," Kennedy's one poetry book. It was dedicated to Knister. In 1936 the anthology of modernist poetry was published as '' New Provinces: Poems by several authors''. Kennedy, represented with ten poems, was one of six authors. By the time he appeared with Smith, Scott, Klein, Pratt, and Robert Finch in ''New Provinces'' in 1936, Kennedy had repudiated his early work and was seeking a poetry that could contribute to social and political reform." He had become "part of a politically active circle of intellectuals in Montreal and Toronto in the 1930s" and a frequent contributor to leftist magazines. He joined the editorial committee of ''New Frontier'' (1936–38), a journal of
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
opinion and culture, and contributed essays and verse. At the same time, some "of his
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
writings were published
pseudonymous A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...
ly, for he was working throughout the 1930s for
advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...
in Montreal,
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, and
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
." Pseudonyms he was known to use include Arthur Beaton, Leonard Bullen, William Crowl, Edgar Main, and Peter Quinn)"


Later life

After ''New Frontier'' closed down, Kennedy "left for the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
to pursue an advertising career," while "continuing to publish reviews and witty verse pseudonymously" "In 1942 he moved to a
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
agency and lsofreelanced as a book reviewer for the '' Chicago Sun''." Kennedy spent the rest of his working life as a copywriter in the United States, eventually settling in
Norwalk, Connecticut Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The city, part of the New York metropolitan area, New York Metropolitan Area, is the List of municipalities of Connecticut by population, sixth-most populous city in Connecticut ...
, where he served as a staff writer for ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
''. ''The Shrouding'' "was reprinted in 1975 with an introduction by Leon Edel, who described Kennedy as the sprightly leader of Canada's ‘graveyard school’ of
metaphysical poetry The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrica ...
." Kennedy's "short story ‘A priest in the family’, first published in ''The Canadian Forum'' (April 1933), was reprinted in ''Great stories of the world'' (1972)." In 1976 Kennedy "returned to his literary friends in Montreal," where he lived for ten years with his daughter-in-law. There "he worked on literary memoirs he was not to finish," spending his time writing "poems for children, satiric verse, and broadsides." Kennedy eventually retired "to a hotel in
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
." He reportedly died in 2000.


Writing

Kennedy's "one volume, ''The Shrouding'' (1933, rpt. 1975), reveals the modernist influence of
T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...
and A.J.M. Smith; traditional in form,
metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...
in technique and motif." The poetry is "marked by a fascination with death and symbolic
resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...
." "Under the influence of the
metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...
and mythic sensibilities of T.S. Eliot and Sir
James Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Per ...
, ennedywrote poems that sought salvation from the winter wasteland of death and oblivion by fusing Christian faith in the resurrection with the myth of renewal found in the order of nature: buried bones are like crocus bulbs awaiting the spring to sprout heavenward."
Kennedy
later repudiated the poems of his first book, as "too unengaged with social issues." "By 1936, when his poems were included in the modernist anthology '' New Provinces'', he was already turning his back on much of what he began, writing committed criticism of social realities for radical periodicals" In a ''New Frontier'' article called "Direction for Canadian Poets," Leo "Kennedy pointed to the impotence of members of the McGill group because they were still preoccupied with the concerns of the twenties. Kennedy's article ends by describing a type of poetry that only came to prominence a decade later:" :we need poetry that reflects the lives of our people, working, loving, fighting, groping for clarity. We need satire - fierce, scorching, aimed at the abuses which are destroying our culture and which threatens life itself. Our poets have lacked direction for their talents and energies in the past — I suggest that today it lies right before them.Karen Margaret Wood,
Raymond Souster: A Stylistic Analysis And A Chronology Of Poems
, thesis, Department of English, Sir George Williams University, 1972. Web, Apr. 2, 2011


Books, Stories

* ''The Shrouding.'' Macmillan, Toronto 1933; Golden Dog, Ottawa 1975 * ''Sunset in the States.'' Diane, 1972 * in German, transl. Marta Hackel: ''Ein Priester in der Familie'', (A priest in the family) engl.: Canadian Forum, April 1933; german: ''89 Autoren erzählen. Die schönsten Kurzgeschichten aus aller Welt.'' vol. 1,
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
(=Das Beste), Stuttgart 1974 pp 261–269


Further reading

* Leo Kennedy: ''The Future of Canadian Literature,'' in ''Canadian Mercury'', December 1928 * Leo Kennedy: ''Direction for Canadian Poets,'' in ''New Frontier'' I, June, 1936 * Patricia A. Morley:
As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy's Story
'. McGill-Queen's Press, 1994. cf. Morley: external links, 2 x. According to a statement by Kennedy's son from 2009, Morley has been close to his father
source
/ref> At
google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
* Peter Stevens, ed.: ''The McGill Movement: A. J. M. Smith, F. R. Scott and Leo Kennedy''. Ryerson Press, Toronto 1969


References


External links

*
Kennedy
at
JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...
, excerpts from ''As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy's Story'' by Patricia Morley, 1994 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Leo 1907 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male poets Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian modernist poets Canadian socialists Poets from Montreal British emigrants to Canada