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 Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

(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, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, 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 Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. 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 is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

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 conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

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 Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

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

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

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

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

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

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

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

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

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

1977 Events January * January 8 – 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 (now the Democratic R ...

. *''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 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. *''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 ente ...

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

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

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