The Beginnings Of A National Literary Tradition

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of these poets/authors was more than ten years old
when the Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867. However, all of these writers
were aware of the lack of a distinctive Canadian literary tradition and they
made efforts to create one for their successors. While each of these men had
their own distinctive writing style they all sought to contribute and create a ‘
national' literature. According to R.E.Rashley in Poetry in Canada: The First
Three Steps " there is no Canadian poetry before [The Confederation Poets]
time"(98). These men were the first in a long line of authors and artists to
conceive of the need for a discernible national literature. The Confederation
Poets function was to "explore the new knowledge that they had acquired of
themselves that had been created by the interaction of environment and people
and the concept of evolutionary growth"(Rashley 98). Archibald Lampman was a
key note in the beginnings of a national literary movement. Before Lampman and
the other ...

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the quote on the title page). The importance of having this
distinct literary "school" was a driving inspiration in his art. Lampman is
regarded "as the most talented of The Confederation Poets"( W.J. Keith 18). It
is amazing that this unspectacular man could have such a profound effect on the
evolution of Canadian literary tradition. His upbringing was in a very
conservative environment as Lampman descended from Loyalists on both sides of
his family and his father was an Anglican clergyman. It seemed that "every
element in Lampman's upbringing told against the development of Canadianism in
[him], but Canadianism did develop very early"(E.K. Brown 97). As a child
growing up around ...

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