New Releases by Margaret Avison

The sixth volume of the Porcupine Quill’s acclaimed series of ‘Essential Poets,’ this collection provides an excellent introduction to this prominent Canadian poet and the evolution of her work. Robyn Sarah’s selections amply celebrate Avison’s diverse styles and forms, and reveal Avison’s unique perspective on and response to her world. Here, one can experience Avison’s dazzling diction (‘‘a saucepantilt of water,’’ ‘‘birds clotted in big trees’’), her metaphoric and tonal complexities, and her quiet examination of the world in which she lived. The Essential Margaret Avison also traces her movement from skeptical intellectual to committed Christian. Though some scholars have dismissed her later religious poetry as simplistic and inferior to her earlier work, the truth is more complex, and the line between what is religious and what is not in Avison’s poetry is difficult to draw. Robyn Sarah describes how Avison’s work became ‘‘more and more a poetry of inquiry, an inner pondering of her daily givens,’’ in which her experience of the worldly and the transcendent are inextricably tied. Margaret Avison, honoured by the Griffin Prize and twice by the Governor-General’s Award, was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1985, and died, at the age of 89, in 2007. This singular poet’s legacy is well represented in Robyn Sarah’s thoughtfully chosen selection.

A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year Margaret Avison was widely acknowledged as one of Canada’s foremost poets. Taut, sublime, subtle, and crystalline, the poems in her brilliant new collection, published posthumously, showcase Avison at her best, and constitute the final chapter in an extraordinary artistic legacy that spanned more than forty years.

At the 1963 Poetry Conference in Vancouver, Margaret Avison''s answer to the question What makes a poet''s language distinctive?'' was: It is saying I am here and not not-there''''.'' In these Pascal Lectures, Margaret''s context is that of a Christian trying to live out and communicate her faith in a secular environment: ... if we are here, we cannot genuinely be there as well. But we can hope to be not not-there''''.'' I am here and not not-there, '' then, describes Margaret''s stance both as a poet and as a Christian. She would often say that the poetry takes precedence over the poet; similarly the person of Christ takes precedence over the person talking about Him. She hoped her words would communicate to the reader/listener without being distorted by a personal response to her as writer/speaker. In these lectures Misunderstanding is Damaging'' and Understanding is Costly'' Margaret''s context is specifically life as a Christian in a secular university. The tension between being in the world'' yet not of it'' meant she must listen to and live with compassion towards non-believers without compromising her own values, a duality which could easily lead to misunderstanding and hurt on both sides. Interestingly, some titles of Margaret''s poetry collections reflect her aim to hold the eternal and the temporal, the I am here'' and the not not-there'', in healthy tension throughout her years as a Christian: "Not Yet but Still," "Always Now," even "No Time" in its double meaning. She was continually working out her own salvation with fear and trembling'' (Phil.2:12, NKJV). These lectures give us a rare glimpse into the process, which is the practice of a kind of perseverance''.

This question was put by a registrant: What makes a poet''s language distinctive?'' We all fell silent, trying to pin it down, then tried to answer. Not just affection for words, which is common to all good writers; not necessarily a matter of cadence, formal structures, rhythm. The answer that came to me, forced out of minutes of dismissing options, was new to me too: It is saying I am here and not not-there''''.''

Margaret Avison has long been considered one of Canada’s most respected writers, and in a career that now spans more than forty years, she continues to work at the height of her powers. In this brilliant collection of new poems, Avison writes of our home on this “little rollicking orb,” exhilaratingly situated in the immensity of space, and of life in and out of phase with the divine, the measure of all. Deep, subtle, and wide thinking is couched in a crystalline style, and nobody makes taut sentences more flush with meaning. Momentary Dark is a celebration of the world, but not without edge and a quiet challenge to care for a damaged earth and all its citizens equally, including a veritable populace of city trees graciously and beautifully linking the earth and the sky.

The three volumes of Always Now contain all of Margaret Avison''s published books of poetry. The author has removed a very few poems: `Public Address'' (from Winter Sun), `The Two Selves'' and `In Eporphyrial Harness'' (from The Dumbfounding), `Highway in April'', `The Evader''s Meditation'', and `Until Christmas'' (from sunblue), `Living the Shadow'', `Insomnia'' and `Beginning Praise'' (from No Time), `Having Stopped Smoking'' and `Point of Entry'' (from Selected Poems). The opening section of volume one, `From Elsewhere'', is arranged according to date of publication, from 1932 to 1991, the date of Selected Poems. `From Elsewhere'' includes the `Uncollected'' and `New Poems'' of that book, except for the two noted above and `The Butterfly'', which is here in its original form. All of the poems in Always Now having been considered and reconsidered, and small corrections having been made, the book contains definitively all of the published poems up to 2002 that Margaret Avison wishes to preserve.

The three volumes of Always Now contain all of Margaret Avison''s published books of poetry. The author has removed a very few poems: `Public Address'' (from Winter Sun), `The Two Selves'' and `In Eporphyrial Harness'' (from The Dumbfounding), `Highway in April'', `The Evader''s Meditation'', and `Until Christmas'' (from sunblue), `Living the Shadow'', `Insomnia'' and `Beginning Praise'' (from No Time), `Having Stopped Smoking'' and `Point of Entry'' (from Selected Poems). The opening section of volume one, `From Elsewhere'', is arranged according to date of publication, from 1932 to 1991, the date of Selected Poems. `From Elsewhere'' includes the `Uncollected'' and `New Poems'' of that book, except for the two noted above and `The Butterfly'', which is here in its original form. All of the poems in Always Now having been considered and reconsidered, and small corrections having been made, the book contains definitively all of the published poems up to 2002 that Margaret Avison wishes to preserve.

The three volumes of Always Now contain all of Margaret Avison''s published books of poetry. The author has removed a very few poems: `Public Address'' (from Winter Sun), `The Two Selves'' and `In Eporphyrial Harness'' (from The Dumbfounding), `Highway in April'', `The Evader''s Meditation'', and `Until Christmas'' (from sunblue), `Living the Shadow'', `Insomnia'' and `Beginning Praise'' (from No Time), `Having Stopped Smoking'' and `Point of Entry'' (from Selected Poems). The opening section of volume one, `From Elsewhere'', is arranged according to date of publication, from 1932 to 1991, the date of Selected Poems. `From Elsewhere'' includes the `Uncollected'' and `New Poems'' of that book, except for the two noted above and `The Butterfly'', which is here in its original form. All of the poems in Always Now having been considered and reconsidered, and small corrections having been made, the book contains definitively all of the published poems up to 2002 that Margaret Avison wishes to preserve.

One of Canada''s greatest poets, Margaret Avison is a complex, introspective writer with roots in seventeenth-century metaphysical and meditational poetry. The first collection to span her entire career, Avison''s Collected Poems stretches from her early work in the 1950s to the most recent poems, recording her conversion to Christianity.

This book represents an important contribution by the School of Social Work at the University of Toronto. It is a record of a carefully designed plan to include a worthwhile research experience in the educational programme of every student engaged in graduate education for the profession. In the introductory essay Dr. Albert Rose explains the methods by which this educational objective has been attempted and traces the evolution of the research requirements as a valid learning experience. The abstracts of 398 student projects provide a varied and interesting illustrative record of the students'' work. These are not definitive studies but they are fertile in suggestive ideas; and the reported findings, though limited, are studded with clues for further and more intensive study in a wide range of welfare services and in different forms of social work. The result should be a valuable source of ideas for intending researches in this field both of what is known, and perhaps equally important, of how much is not known. The abstracts have been prepared by Margaret Avison, who has also provided an evocative introductory review.