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Isabella Valancy Crawford (25 December 1846 – 12 February 1887) was an Irish-born
Canadian writer This is a list of Canadian literary figures, including poets, novelists, children's writers, essayists, and scholars. __NOTOC__ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X ...
and poet. She was one of the first Canadians to make a living as a freelance writer. "Crawford is increasingly being viewed as Canada's first major poet." She is the author of "Malcolm's Katie," a poem that has achieved "a central place in the
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
of nineteenth-century
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 Indigenou ...
."


Life

Isabella Valancy Crawford was the last surviving daughter of Dr. Stephen Crawford. She was born in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Ireland, on Christmas Day 1846. The family emigrated to Canada when she was ten years of age. Much of Isabella Crawford's early life is unknown. By her own account she was born in Dublin, Ireland, the sixth daughter of Dr. Stephen Dennis Crawford and Sydney Scott; but "No record has been found of that marriage or of the birthdates and birthplaces of at least six children, of whom Isabella wrote that she was the sixth." The family was in Canada by 1857; in that year, Dr. Crawford applied for a licence to practise medicine in
Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
and started to practise in Paisley,
Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
. "In a few years, disease had taken nine of the twelve children, and a small medical practice had reduced the family to semi-poverty." Dr. Crawford served as Treasurer of Paisley Township, but "a scandal of a missing $500 in misappropriated Township funds and the subsequent suicide of one of his bondsmen" caused the family to leave Paisley in 1861. By chance Dr. Crawford met Richard Strickland of Lakefield. Strickland invited the Crawfords to live at his home, out of charity, and because Lakefield did not have a doctor. There the family became acquainted with Strickland's sisters, writers
Susanna Moodie Susanna Moodie (born Strickland; 6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885) was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada, which was a British colony at the time. Biography Susanna Moodie was born in Bungay, ...
and Catherine Parr Traill. Isabella Crawford reportedly began writing at that time. She was also thought to be a close companion of Mrs. Traill's daughter, Katharine (Katie). In 1869 the family moved to
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...
, and Crawford began to write and publish poems and stories. Her first published poem, "A Vesper Star", appeared in '' The Toronto Mail'' on Christmas Eve, 1873. "When Dr. Crawford died, on 3 July 1875, the three women" – Isabella, her mother, and her sister Emma, all who were left in the household – "became dependent on Isabella's literary earnings." After Emma died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
, "Isabella and her mother moved in
1876 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is ...
to Toronto, which was the centre of the publishing world in Canada." "Although Isabella had been writing while still living in Lakefield ... and had published poems in Toronto newspapers and stories in American magazines while living in Peterborough, when she moved to Toronto she turned her attention in earnest to the business of writing." "During this productive period she contributed numerous serialized novels and novellas to New York and Toronto publications," "including the ''Mail'', the ''
Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model glo ...
'', the ''National'', and the ''Evening
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
''. She also contributed "a quantity of 'occasional' verse to the Toronto papers ... and articles for the '' Fireside Monthly''. In 1886 she became the first local writer to have a novel, ''A little Bacchante'', serialized in the ''Evening Globe''. In her lifetime Crawford published only one book, ''Old Spookses' Pass, Malcolm's Katie and Other Poems'' in 1884. It was privately printed and sold poorly. Crawford paid for the printing of 1,000 copies, and presumably sent out many review copies; "there were notices in such London journals as the '' Spectator'', the '' Graphic'', the '' Leisure Hour'', and the '' Saturday Review''. These articles pointed to 'versatility of talent,' and to such qualities as 'humour, vivacity, and range of power,' which were impressive and promising despite her extravagance of incident and 'untrained magniloquence.'" However, only 50 books sold. "Crawford was understandably disappointed and felt she had been neglected by 'the High Priests of Canadian Periodical Literature'" (Arcturus 84)." Crawford died on 12 February 1887 in Toronto. She was buried in Peterborough's
Little Lake Cemetery Little Lake Cemetery is a non-denominational cemetery located in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1850 and is located on the southern shore of Little Lake. History Founded in 1850 as a private trust cemetery with a public mandate, Litt ...
near the Otonabee River. She had died in poverty and for years her body lay in an unmarked grave. A fundraising campaign was begun in 1899, and on 2 November 1900, a six-foot Celtic Cross was raised above her grave, inscribed: "Isabella Valancy Crawford / Poet / By the Gift of God."


Writing

Crawford was a prolific writer. "For the most part Crawford's prose followed the fashion of the ''feuilleton'' of the day." Her magazine writing "displays a skilful and energetic use of literary conventions made popular by
Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
, such as twins and doubles, mysterious childhood disappearances, stony-hearted fathers, sacrificial daughters, wills and lost inheritances, recognition scenes, and, to quote one of her titles, 'A kingly restitution'." As a whole, though, it "was romantic-Gothic 'formula fiction.'" It is her poetry that has endured. Just two years after her death, W.D. Lighthall included generous selections from her book in his groundbreaking 1889 anthology, ''
Songs of the Great Dominion ''Songs of the Great Dominion'' was a pioneering anthology of Canadian poetry published in 1889. The book's full title was ''Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada''.William Douw Lighth ...
'', bringing it to a wider audience. "In the 20th century critics have given the work increasing respect and appreciation." "Crawford's ''Collected Poems'' were edited (Toronto 1905) by J.W. Garvin, with an introduction by Ethelwyn Wetherald," a popular Canadian poet. Wetherald called Crawford "purely a genius, not a craftswoman, and a genius who has patience enough to be an artist." In his 1916 anthology, ''Canadian Poets'', Garvin stated that Crawford was "one of the greatest of women poets." Poet Katherine Hale, Garvin's wife, published a volume on ''Isabella Valancy Crawford'' in the 1920s ''Makers of Canada'' series. All of this helped Crawford's poetry become more widely known. A "serious critical assessment began in the mid-1940s with
A.J.M. Smith Arthur James Marshall Smith (November 8, 1902 – November 21, 1980) was a Canadian poetry, Canadian poet and anthologist. He "was a prominent member of a group of Montreal poets" – the Montreal Group, which included Leon Edel, Leo Kenne ...
,
Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...
, and E.K. Brown, who called her 'the only Canadian woman poet of real importance in the last century.'" "Recognition of Isabella Valancy Crawford's extraordinary mythopoeic power, and her structural use of images, came ... in
James Reaney James Crerar Reaney, (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor, "whose works transform small-town Ontario life into the realm of dream and symbol." Reaney won Canada's highest literary ...
's lecture 'Isabella Valancy Crawford' in ''Our living tradition'' (series 3, 1959)." Then a "renewed interest in Crawford resulted in the publication of forgotten manuscripts and critical articles" in the 1970s. "A reprint of the collected poems in 1972, with an introduction by poet James Reaney, made Crawford's work generally available; six of her short stories, edited by Penny Petrone, appeared in 1975; and in 1977 the Borealis Press published a book of fairy stories and a long unfinished poem, 'Hugh and Ion.'." Crawford wrote a wide variety of poems, ranging from the
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
-like doggerel (pun intended) of "Love Me, Love My Dog", to the eerie
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
of "The Camp of Souls" to the
eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, ...
of The Lily Bed. But it is mainly Crawford's "long narrative poems
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
have received particular attention." "Old Spookses' Pass" is a dialect poem, set in the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, concerning a dream vision of a midnight cattle stampede towards a black abyss that is stilled by a whirling lariat; "The helot" makes use of the
Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...
ns' practice of intoxicating their
helot The helots (; el, εἵλωτες, ''heílotes'') were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their ...
s to teach their own children not to drink, as the starting-point for a highly incantatory and hypnotic poem that ends in Bacchic possession and death; and "Gisli the Chieftain" fuses mythic elements, such as the Russian spring goddess Lada and the Icelandic
Brynhild Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label= Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda ...
, into a narrative of love, betrayal, murder, and reconciliation. These poems follow a pattern of depicting the world as a battleground of opposites – light and dark, good and evil – reconciled by sacrificial love."


Malcolm's Katie

The bulk of critical attention has gone to " Malcolm's Katie." That poem is a long narrative in
blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...
, dealing mainly with the love and trials of young Max and Katie in the 19th-century Canadian bush, but containing a second running narrative recounting the war between the North and South Winds (Winter and Summer personified as
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
warriors), and also a collection of love songs in different
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have ei ...
forms. Many of those lauding the poem have seen their own interests reflected in it. For instance,
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
Livesay gave a reading that made the poem sound like a manifesto of
Utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often ...
: Others have similarly seen their concerns reflected in the poem. "Malcolm's Katie has been given a nationalistic reading by Robin Mathews, a feminist reading by
Clara Thomas Clara Thomas (née McCandless; May 22, 1919 – September 26, 2013) was a Canadian academic. A longtime professor of English at York University, she was one of the first academics to devote her work specifically to the study of Canadian literatur ...
, a biographical reading by Dorothy Farmiloe and a Marxian reading by Kenneth Hughes, as well as various literary-historical readings by
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 ...
, Elizabeth Waterston, John Ower, Robert Alan Burns and others." Not just interpretations on the poem's meaning, but evaluations of its worth, have varied widely. Its detractors have included poet
Louis Dudek Louis Dudek, (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books. In ''A Digital Hist ...
, who called Crawford "'a failed poet' of 'hollow convention ... counterfeit feeling ... and fake idealism'"; and Roy Daniells, who in ''The Literary History of Canada'' (1965) called "Malcolm's Katie" "a preposterously romantic love story on a Tennysonian model in which a wildly creaking plot finally delivers true love safe and triumphant." Some of the poem's supporters concede the
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
influence but point out that there is much more to it: "While appearing on the surface melodramatic and stereotyped, Crawford's love story is compelling and powerful; what seems at first a conventional conflict between rival suitors for the hand of the heroine becomes a serious, even profound, account of philosophical, social and ideological confrontations." "In 'Malcolm's Katie' Crawford adapted to the setting of pioneer Canada the domestic idyll as she learned it from Tennyson. Striking and new, however, is Crawford's location of Max and Katie's conventional love story within a context of Native legends — Indian Summer and the battle of the North and South Winds." This myth telling (however accurate it was as a portrayal of First Nations beliefs) is what many of its supporters see as giving the poem its power. For instance, writing about "Malcolm's Katie, critic
Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...
pronounced Crawford "the most remarkable mythopoeic imagination in Canadian poetry": Frye believed, and thought Crawford's "poetic sense" told her "that the most obvious development in the romantic landscape is toward the mythological"; and he saw Crawford's attempt at an indigenous Canadian myth as the intellectual equivalent of the simultaneous pioneer exploration and settlement: "In the long mythopoeic passage from Isabella Crawford's Malcolm's Katie, beginning 'The South Wind laid his moccasins aside,' we see how the poet is, first, taming the landscape imaginatively, as settlement tames it physically, by animating the lifeless scene with humanized figures, and, second, integrating the literary tradition of the country by deliberately re-establishing the broken cultural link with Indian civilization."


Hugh and Ion

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 ...
, researching Crawford's life for the ''
Dictionary of Canadian Biography The ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (''DCB''; french: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada) is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The ''DCB'', which was initiated in 1959, is a ...
'' in 1977, discovered the manuscript of an uncompleted narrative poem in the Crawford
fonds In archival science, a fonds is a group of documents that share the same origin and that have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an agency, individual, or organization. An example of a fonds could be the writings of a poe ...
at
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
's Queen's University. Called ''Hugh and Ion'', it deals with "Hugh and Ion, two friends who have fled the noxious city—probably contemporary Toronto—for purification in the primal wilderness ndcarry on a sustained dialogue, Hugh arguing for hope, light, and redemption and Ion pointing out despair, darkness, and intractable human perversity." Perhaps due to Crawford's Toronto experiences, this last poem marked a significant change in her views, showing the city as "a demonic, urban world of isolation and blindness which has wilfully cut itself off from the regenerative power of the wildernese. The confident innocence and romantic idealism, which account for much of the inner fire of ''Malcolm's Katie'', have simply ceased to be operative.... Nowhere else in nineteenth-century Canadian literature, with the exception of
Lampman Lampman is a small town of around 735 people located in the south-east part of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, roughly 30 miles north-east of Estevan. It is named after the Canadian poet, Archibald Lampman. To the north-west of Lampman, ...
's "the End of Things", is there another example of the creative imagination being brought to bear, in so Blakean a manner, on the nascent social evils of the 'infant city.'"


Recognition

Isabella Valancy Crawford was designated a
Person of National Historic Significance Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...
in 1947. A small garden park in downtown Toronto, at Front and John Streets (near the
CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...
), has been named Isabella Valancy Crawford Park.


Publications

* ''Old Spookses' Pass, Malcolm's Katie and Other Poems''. Toronto, 1884. * ''The Collected Poems of Isabella Valancy Crawford'', ed. John Garvin. Toronto: William Briggs, 1905. * ''Isabella Valancy Crawford''. Katherine Hale, ed. Toronto: Ryerson, 1923. * ''Hugh and Ion''. Glenn Clever ed. Ottawa: Borealis P, 1977. * ''Malcolm's Katie: A Love Story''. D.M.R. Bentley ed. London, ON: Canadian Poetry Press, 1987.


Prose collections

* ''Selected Stories of Isabella Valancy Crawford.'' Penny Petrone ed. Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1975. * ''Fairy Tales of Isabella Valancy Crawford.'' Penny Petrone ed. Ottawa: Borealis P, 1977. * ''Collected Short Stories of Isabella Valancy Crawford.'' Len Early & Michel Peterman, ed. London, ON: Canadian Poetry Press, 2006. * ''Winona; or, The Foster-Sisters.'' Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2006. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information from Open Library.''


References


External links

* Eugene Benson and William Toye, eds. ''The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Second Edition''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997: 238–239. * * *
Selected Poetry of Isabella Valancy Crawford
– Biography and 6 poems (The Camp of Souls, The Canoe, The Dark Stag, The Lily Bed, Malcolm's Katie: A Love Story, Old Spookses' Pass, Said the West Wind)
Isabella Valancy Crawford's
entry in
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

Crawford
in SFU Digitized Collections,
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
, Coll. Canada's Early Women Writers (with a photograph) {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Isabella Valancy 1846 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Canadian women writers 19th-century Canadian novelists 19th-century Canadian poets Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Irish emigrants to Canada (before 1923) Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian women short story writers 19th-century Canadian short story writers