Louise Morey Bowman
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Louise Morey Bowman (17 January 1882 – 28 September 1944) was a Canadian poet.


Life

Lily Louise Dyer Morey was born in
Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, 17 January 1882. She was educated by private tutors, then at
Dana Hall School Dana Hall School is an Independent school, independent boarding school, boarding and day school for girls in grades 5-12 located in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1881 by Henry Fowle Durant, Henry F. Durant, Dana Hall originally served as ...
, and by extensive travel in Europe. Married in 1909 to Archibald Bowman, she lived in
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 ...
until 1919, when she moved to
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 ...
where she resided until her death in 1944.


Writing career

Bowman's first published poem, "North Room", appeared in ''Outlook'' in May 1913 and she had quite an extensive magazine publication. Her work appeared in ''
Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
'', ''Outlook'', ''Independent'', ''
Dalhousie Review ''The Dalhousie Review'' is a Canadian literary magazine, founded in 1921 and associated with Dalhousie University. It publishes three times a year, in the spring, summer, and fall. Content includes fiction, poetry, literary essays and book review ...
'', ''
Queen's Quarterly ''Queen's Quarterly'' is a Canadian quarterly peer-reviewed literary and academic journal of cultural studies. Established in 1893, Queen's Quarterly is Canada's oldest academic quarterly. This magazine has won numerous awards including awards and ...
'', and ''Canadian Magazine''. She also published three books: ''Moonlight and Common Day'' (Toronto: Macmillan, 1922); ''Dream Tapestries'' (Toronto: Macmillan, 1924), which won a David Award from the Quebec Government; and ''Characters in Cadence'' (Toronto: Macmillan, 1938). Her work drew some critical attention at its time of publication. Logan and French, in ''Highways of Canadian Literature'', included her among the poets "Second Renaissance Period" of Canadian poetry, although their reasons for praising her were not inspired by an admiration for her
Imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism has been termed "a successi ...
. They claim "Louise Morey Bowman shows an airy fancy which is almost so ethereal as to be altogether abstract and unearthly." Ironically, this observation points toward one of the major weaknesses of her poetry. It often is, as
Desmond Pacey William Cyril Desmond Pacey (May 1, 1917 – July 4, 1975) was a pioneer of Canadian literary criticism. He was also a notable author of verse and short fiction and a long-time university administrator. He was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal by t ...
described it, "deficient in substance and strength.
Barry Callaghan Barry Morley Joseph Callaghan (born July 5, 1937) is a Canadian author, poet and anthologist. He is currently the editor-in-chief of ''Exile'' Quarterly. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he is the son of late Canadian novelist and short story writer, ...
has claimed that W.E. Ross was "the first modern poet in Canada". He bases this claim upon the assumption that Ross introduced Imagism into Canadian poetry. But Ross was not the first Canadian to write in the Imagist manner (though he was probably the first to dedicate himself totally to it). Four years before his first published poem appeared in '' Dial'' in 1928, Bowman had published ''Dream Tapestries'', a book which contained several poems that were clearly Imagist in technique. Her earlier book, ''Moonlight and Common Day'' had also reflected a definite imagist influence.


Books of poetry

''Moonlight and Common Day'' exhibits the influence of nineteenth century writers such as
Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ...
, Poe, and
Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote many plays – all tragedies – and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the Eleve ...
, as well as hints of influence from modern poets. Some of the poems are openly didactic, some are "modernist" but not Imagist, and others show Imagist tendencies. She seems caught between the style of the old acknowledged masters and the methods of modernist poetry.Donald Precosky, "Louise Morey Bowman," Canadian Literature No. 79 (Winter 1978): 108-111. ''Dream Tapestries'' has the same unevenness of style and attitude which characterized ''Moonlight and Common Day''. In a few poems, however, Bowman does succeed in writing in the Imagist vein. The book is divided into several sections and one section, entitled "Cinquains, "contains five Imagist pieces. These poems are especially interesting because they show the coming together of the Canadian setting with the Imagist style. Another interesting, though less successful, piece in the "Cinquains" group is "Twelve
Hokku is the opening stanza of a Japanese orthodox collaborative linked poem, '' renga'', or of its later derivative, '' renku'' (''haikai no renga''). From the time of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), the ''hokku'' began to appear as an independent poem, ...
on a Canadian Theme." Modelled upon
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
' "Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird," it deals with twelve aspects of Canadian life both past and present and urban and rural. Most of these hokku are quite flat but in one or two she manages to make the images work. Bowman's last, and poorest, volume is ''Characters in Cadence'' and it appeared in 1938, six years before her death. On the whole, it marks a return to the uneven style and derivativeness of her first book. There is, however, one very short Imagist gem. It is the second of a series of poems called "Portraits of Five Sinners": :Her little window-sills were all too narrow :To hold her pots of lilting daffodils. These two lines exemplify the power of the image to evoke the deepest of insights with the least amount of verbiage. The reader is left with the feeling that a narrowness lies within the "her" of the poem. This narrowness is her "sin." Her soul cannot accommodate the "lilting daffodils" of feeling which life has to offer.


Conclusion

Imagism could have given Bowman a method to set herself free from the past, but she was unable to break away from the grip of the Romanticism which dominated the Canadian literary scene. Consequently, her poems are a confusing mixture of the old and new. Thus her work, when considered as a whole, is of too low a quality to make her a major poet. But she is an interesting representative figure nonetheless whose career can serve to symbolize the slow and painful struggle which Canadian poetry underwent in its transition from Victorian to modern styles.


References


External links


"Louise Morey Bowman,"
Canadian Women Poets rock University
Louise Morey Bowman, ''Moonlight and Common Day''.

Louise Morey Bowman. ''Dream Tapestries''.

Louise Morey Bowman. ''Characters in Cadence''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Louis Morey 1882 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets 20th-century Canadian women writers Writers from Sherbrooke Poets from Quebec