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The Journals of Susanna Moodie: Poems
by
Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)
This cycle of poems is perhaps the most memorable evocation in modern Canadian literature of the myth of the wilderness, the immigrant experience, and the alienating and schizophrenic effects of the colonial mentality. Since it was first published in 1970 it has not only acquired the stature of a classic but, reprinted many times, become the best-known extended work in Can...more
Paperback, 64 pages
Published
August 15th 1970
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published 1970)
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Cycle of poems based loosely on the journals of 19th-cen. English pioneer in Canada whose journals are apparently required reading in Canadian Lit. Atwood is excellent as always on the divided inner voice, the accute natural detail and the murky underconsciousness rumbling beneath, the sharp self-hatred with which the entrapped lie to themselves. The poems are good but not excellent; I think the best part may be the movement of the story out of the backcountry into the city and the twentieth cen...more
Margaret Atwood's poetic reimagining of the hardscrabble life of Susanna Moodie, a British settler who emigrated to Canada in the 1830s, is vivid unto itself. It groups Moodie's experiences into three sets of poems: the first covers her arrival in Canada and primitive subsistence on a farm near what became Peterborough, Ontario, the second covers her somewhat more civilized existence in the town of Belleville, and the third is actually a posthumous set of reflections that concludes with her spir...more
I'm often interested in how artists visually interpret writing, especially poetry. While I thought Pachter's accompanying illustrations were interesting, I didn't especially care for them-- just not my taste.
One of Atwood's most exciting volumes of poetry, historically based, though the work sneaks up on you in ways her other work does not, the wilderness upon you at the second you've discovered it's been lurking.
One of Atwood's most exciting volumes of poetry, historically based, though the work sneaks up on you in ways her other work does not, the wilderness upon you at the second you've discovered it's been lurking.
I began this collection expecting to hate it. I had previously read quite a bit about Ms. Moodie and assumed that poetry about her life would be dull. I was wrong. This is some of the deepest, most beautiful and haunting contemporary poetry I have ever read. Atwood's insight into the psyche of the woman and the nation is thought provoking and presented in beautiful form. Truly compelling.
Mar 23, 2013
Eddy Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-and-westerns,
romance-and-poetry
Margaret Atwood's The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), regarded by many as her most fully realized volume of poetry, is one of the great Canadian and feminist epics. In 1980, Margaret Atwood's longtime friend, the distinguished Canadian artist Charles Pachter, illustrated, designed, and published a handmade boxed portfolio edition of 120 copies of the poem with silkscreen prints, created as an act of homage to the poet. Atwood herself has said of Pachter's work, "His is a sophisticated art whi...more
There's an eerie, haunting quality to these poems supposedly inspired by a dream Margaret Atwood had about writing an opera based on the journals of Susanna Moodie.
The book is divided into three time frames starting with Susanna Moodie's landing on Canadian soil to settle there and ending with her death and beyond.
There's this whole "haunted landscape" feel to the entire collection. From drownings and the loss of life to the lynching of a black man, these poems draw upon the harsh wilderness o...more
The book is divided into three time frames starting with Susanna Moodie's landing on Canadian soil to settle there and ending with her death and beyond.
There's this whole "haunted landscape" feel to the entire collection. From drownings and the loss of life to the lynching of a black man, these poems draw upon the harsh wilderness o...more
I can't say I was overly impressed by this book. It really helps if you've read Roughing It In The Bush by Susanna Moodie. A lot of the poems I found really related to the book and if you didn't read that then this wouldn't make much sense. I found a lot of the poetry quite boring and dull actually. I guess I'm just not a fan of Atwoods poetry.
In 1832, Susanna immigrated to northern Canada. These poems tell of her life and struggles in a hostile new land.
I love this book, the strange bare poems, the loneliness, and the wild and vivid (sometimes creepy) artwork.
Better than other Atwood poetry books I've read....at least I can tell what's going on some of the time!
B- I enjoy her novels better than her poems, but literary, so it tells a story.
Signed by the author.
"for Marg Yeo
rewarding faithful
dedication
Margaret Atwood
March 1970"
"for Marg Yeo
rewarding faithful
dedication
Margaret Atwood
March 1970"
This poems haunted me for years
Aug 15, 2010
Dora
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
didntfinish-noneedtogoback,
to-sell-give-away
Originally Elke's; not that exciting.
A fantastic collection.
Beautifull book...prints accompaning the poems are really great. I found an excerpt that I read and forgot about from high school...recently found again and discovered was significant for my current life stage...from Looking In a Mirror " (you find only the shape you already are...but what if you have forgotten that...or discover you have never known)"
I read this in a class on long poems after reading "The Four Quartets" and it was so refreshing. I love how Atwood's versions of Moodie's experiences really bring out a more knowledgeable, philosophical voice than the one present in "Roughing it in the Bush". Essential reading for Canadians.
Roughing it poems.
"(each refuge fails / us; each danger / becomes a haven)"
"I was not ready / altogether to be moved into"
"look how / fast Belleville is growing / (though it is still no place for an english gentleman)"
"(each refuge fails / us; each danger / becomes a haven)"
"I was not ready / altogether to be moved into"
"look how / fast Belleville is growing / (though it is still no place for an english gentleman)"
Jun 23, 2008
Anne Thessen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Anne by:
Ricky
Excellent art, amazing poetry.
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Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more
More about Margaret Atwood...
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more
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“History (that list
of ballooning wishes, flukes,
bent times, plunges and mistakes
clutched like parachutes)
is rolling itself up in your head
at one end unrolling at the other.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
of ballooning wishes, flukes,
bent times, plunges and mistakes
clutched like parachutes)
is rolling itself up in your head
at one end unrolling at the other.”
