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John Reade (November 13, 1837 – March 26, 1919) was an
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
-born
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...
journalist, essayist, and poet once considered "the grand old man of
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...
letters." He is best known as the literary editor of the ''
Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
,'' a position he held for almost 50 years.Leslie Monkman,
Reade, John
" Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Web, May 1, 2011.


Life

John Reade was born in
Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 crosses the River Erne. Incorporated in 1613, it is one of the oldest towns in Ireland. Location B ...
,
Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, in 1837, the son of Frances Smyth and Joseph Reade. He was educated at Portora School,
Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...
, and
Queen's College, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...
. Reade immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1856, settling in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec. Within a year he had founded and was editing ''Montreal Literary Magazine.'' In 1859, after beginning studying law, he became
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...
Academy, and began studying theology. He was ordained an
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
minister in 1865, and served in two parishes (
Mascouche Mascouche () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southern Quebec, Canada. The city is located on the Mascouche River within the Les Moulins Regional County Municipality and has a population of 51,183, ranking 20th among Quebec municipaliti ...
and Mansonville) before leaving the ministry in 1867 due to ill health. Returning to Montreal in 1868, Reade began writing for the ''Montreal Gazette''. In 1870 he became the ''Gazettes literary editor, and held that position until his death in 1919. At the ''Gazette'' Reade was best known for his weekly column, "Old and New," but he also wrote "hundreds of unsigned editorials, reviews, and articles" for the paper. In addition, he "published poems, essays, translations, or short fiction in virtually all of the major Canadian journals of his day." Reade was a Fellow of the British
Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
, and a founding
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life ...
in 1882. He was a member, and served as president, of both the Society of Canadian Literature and the Society for Historical Studies. He was also a member of the Société littéraire et historique de Québec.John Reade fonds (P140)
, McCord Museum of Canadian History, Web, May 1, 2011.
Eight of Reade's poems were published in the 1864 anthology, ''Selections from Canadian Poets.'' His own book, ''Merlin's Prophecy and Other Poems'' (a book "steeped in Victorian Romanticism"), appeared in
1870 Events January–March * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Broo ...
. The title poem, which used the form of
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 ...
's ''Idylls of the King,'' was a purported prophecy of contemporary Canada and the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, which Reade wrote to commemorate
Prince Arthur Prince Arthur may refer to: * Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187-1203), nephew and possible heir of Richard I of England * Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486–1502), eldest son Henry VII of England * Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850 ...
's 1869 visit to Canada. John Lesperance called it "the most perfect poem ever written in Canada." The book also included Reade's translations of
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
,
Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
,
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
,
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
, and
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
. In 1881 Reade edited
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon (January 12, 1829 – September 20, 1879), born Rosanna Eleanor Mullins, was a Canadian writer and poet. She was "one of the first English-Canadian writers to depict French Canada in a way that earned the praise of, and r ...
's posthumous collected poems, ''The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon.'' ''Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review'' printed Reade's long poem, "Madeleine de Vercheres," in 1878. In 1889, W.D. Lighthall selected "Madeleine" and two other Reade poems for his 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 Light ...
'': "Hastings," which he used to begin the book, and "The Winter Carnival." Reade, Lighthall declared, was "one of the chief figures in
Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both ge ...
, and probably the sweetest poet."William Douw Lighthall,
Songs of the Great Dominion
Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada'' (Walter Scott indsor Series 1889), Google Books, Web, May 1, 2011.


Recognition

Reade was appointed a charter Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...
in 1882, and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
of Great Britain in 1896.John Reade
" Quebec History Encyclopedia, Marianopolis.edu, Web, May 1, 2011.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
in 1909. ''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 ...
'' notes that although Reade "was appropriately identified in his later years as 'the grand old man of Canadian letters,' his reputation has not fulfilled the dream of his friend John Boyd that 'no anthology of Canadian verse will ever be complete without a wide selection from John Reade’s work, rich as it is in content and faultless in its technique.' Despite such praise, the late-Victorian personal, political, and poetic values characteristic of Reade’s poetry and criticism led to their general disregard within a few years of his death."


Publications


Books of poetry

*''The Prophecy of Merlin and Other Poems''. Montreal: Dawson Bros., 1870. *''Madeleine de Vercheres (Toronto, 89–


Anthologized poems

* Eight poems, ''Selections from Canadian poets'', E.H. Dewart ed. Montreal, 1864; repr., intro. D. Lochhead, Toronto and Buffalo, N.Y., 1973. * "Hastings," "The Winter Carnival," "Madeleine de Vercheres," '' Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada'', William Douw Lighthall ed. London: Walter Scott, 1891.


Prose

*"Thomas D’Arcy McGee – the poet," ''New Dominion Monthly'' (Montreal), February 1870: 12–21; *"Winty Dane’s transformation," ''New Dominion Monthly'', August 1874: 878-879. (short story) *"Canada a hundred years ago," ''Belford's Monthly Magazine'' (Toronto), 1 (1877): 621–36: *"The testimony of names of places," ''Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review'' (Toronto), 1 (July–December 1878): 602–8; *"Great explorers before Columbus," ''Trans. Literary and Hist. Soc.'', 17 (1882–1883), 3-31; *"Lord Tennyson," ''Dominion Illustrated Monthly'' (Montreal), nd ser. 1 (February 1892–January 1893): 631–39; *"What is imperialism?" ''Canadian Magazine'', 19 (May–October 1902): 316–18.


Edited

*Rosanna Leprohon, ''The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon''. Lovell, 1881.Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
" Old Poetry, Web, May 1, 2011.
*George Murray, ''Poems.''. Montreal: E.G. O'Connor, 1912.search results: George Murray, Open Library, Web, May 15, 2011.


Fonds

Reade's papers are at the
McCord Museum The McCord Stewart Museum (french: Musée McCord Stewart) is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history. The museum, whose full name is McCord Museum of Canadian His ...
of Canadian History in Montreal. Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography.''


References


External links


John Reade
at the ''
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 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 ...
''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reade, John 1837 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Irish people 19th-century Canadian journalists Canadian male journalists 19th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Anglophone Quebec people Irish poets Irish journalists Irish Anglicans Irish essayists Irish literary critics Irish emigrants to Canada Journalists from Montreal Canadian Anglicans Canadian literary critics Canadian people of Irish descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Writers from Montreal People from Ballyshannon British male essayists 19th-century British male writers 19th-century Canadian essayists 19th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male essayists