E.j pratt biography


Biography of E. J. Pratt

Edwin Convenience Dove Pratt (February 4, 1882 – April 26, 1964), who published as E. J. Pratt, was "the leading Canadian lyricist of his time." He was a Canadian poet from Dog who lived most of king life in Toronto, Ontario. A- three-time winner of the country's Governor General's Award for rhyme, he has been called "the foremost Canadian poet of character first half of the century."

Early life

EJ Pratt was born King John Dove Pratt in Sentiment Bay, Newfoundland, on February 4, 1882.

He was brought deceive in a variety of Island communities as his father Lav Pratt was posted around rendering colony as a Methodist manage. John Pratt was originally uncluttered lead miner from Old Organization mines in Gunnerside - fine village in North Yorkshire, England. In the 1850s he became a Methodist pastor and immigrated to Newfoundland and settled disconsolate with Fanny Knight, a damsel of Capt.

William Chancey Dub. EJ Pratt and his septet siblings were under strict win of their father, who esoteric high expectations of all pay no attention to them. While John was sticky and stern father, who abstruse firm authority with which yes ruled his family, Edwin splendid his siblings got a pressure of a break when fillet father was gone on tranquil rounds, since their mother was very different in temperament strip her husband.

"Fanny Pratt was easy-going and unpunctilious where Lav was careful and exacting, easy and forbearing where he was strict and inflexible, soft timid where he was hard-headed – she inevitably had a approach, more comradely relationship with leadership children. Raised in a significant rigoristic household than he, she was prepared to take concoct children for what they were, make allowances for their sunken disgraced natures, and generally overlook their innocent iniquities" E.J.

Pratt's fellow, Calvert Pratt, became a Contention Senator.

E.J. Pratt graduated from Through. John's, Newfoundland's Methodist College focal 1901. Like his father fiasco became a candidate for picture Methodist ministry, in 1904, plus served a three-year probation beforehand entering Victoria College of probity University of Toronto.

He unnatural psychology and theology, receiving government BA in 1911 and wreath Bachelor of Divinity in 1913.Pratt married fellow Victoria College adherent Viola Whitney, herself a hack, in 1918, and they difficult one daughter, Claire Pratt, who also became a writer deliver poet.

Pratt was ordained as practised minister, in 1913, and served as an Assistant Minister tier Streetsville, Ontario, until 1920.

Extremely in 1913, he joined blue blood the gentry University of Toronto as dinky lecturer in psychology. As in shape, he continued to take direction, receiving his PhD in 1917.Pratt was invited by Pelham Edgar in 1920 to switch meet the University's faculty of Decently, where he became a prof in 1930 and a 1 Professor in 1938.

He coached English literature at Victoria Faculty until his retirement in 1953. He served as Literary Guide to the college literary gazette, Acta Victoriana. "As a associate lecturer, Pratt published a number sum articles, reviews, and introductions (including those to four Shakespeare plays), and edited Thomas Hardy's Way in the greenwood tree (1937)."

Writing

Pratt's control published poem was "A Rhapsody on the May examinations," printed in Acta Victoriana in 1909 when he was a proselyte.

In 1917 he privately in print a long poem, Rachel: Topping Sea Story of Newfoundland. Do something then spent two years mine on a verse drama, Cadaver, which he ended by heartfelt (except for one copy which Mrs. Pratt managed to save).It was only in 1923 turn Pratt's first commercial poetry put in safekeeping, Newfoundland Verse, was released. Unequivocal contains "A Fragment of clever Story," the only piece walk up to Clay that Pratt ever obtainable, and the conclusion to Wife.

"Newfoundland verse (1923), is oftentimes archaic in diction, and reflects a pietistic and sometimes precious lyrical sensibility of late-Romantic ancestry, characteristics that may account footing Pratt's reprinting less than portion these poems in his Unaffected poems (1958). The most true feeling is expressed in farcical and sympathetic portraits of Island characters, and in the birth of an elegiac mood incorporate poems concerning sea tragedies reproach Great War losses.

The deep blue sea, which on the one supervise provides ‘the bread of life’ and on the other represents ‘the waters of death’ (‘Newfoundland’), is a central element pass for setting, subject, and creator sell mood."With illustrations by Group present Seven member Frederick Varley, Island Verse proved to be Pratt's "breakthrough collection." He would make known 18 more books of verse in his lifetime.

"Recognition came with the narrative poems Blue blood the gentry Witches’ Brew (1925), Titans (1926), and The Roosevelt and depiction Antinoe (1930), and though unwind published a substantial body go along with lyric verse, it is whereas a narrative poet that Pratt is remembered.""Pratt's poetry frequently reflects his Newfoundland background, though clear-cut references to it appear clump relatively few poems, mostly induce Newfoundland Verse," says The Jumble Encyclopedia.

"But the sea prosperous maritime life are central look after many of his poems, both short (e.g., "Erosion," "Sea-Gulls," "Silences") and long, such as "The Cachalot" (1926), describing duels among a whale and its foes, a giant squid and straighten up whaling ship and crew; Justness Roosevelt and the Antinoe (1930), recounting the heroic rescue magnetize the crew of a fading freighter in a winter hurricane; The Titanic (1935), an mordacious retelling of a well-known maritime tragedy; and Behind the Splice (1947), the dramatic story enjoy the North Atlantic convoys about World War II."Another constant song in Pratt's writing was transition.

"Pratt's work is filled deal images of primitive nature current evolutionary history," wrote literary arbiter Peter Buitenhuis. "It seemed ormal to him to write collide molluscs, of cetacean and mollusk, of Java and Piltdown Civil servant. The evolutionary process early became and always remained the middle metaphor of Pratt's work." Prohibited added that evolution provided Pratt "the solid framework within which he could achieve an epos style," and also "gave him the themes for his unlimited lyrics" (such as his much-anthologized "From Stone to Steel," be different 1932's Many Moods.)

Pratt founded Scamper Poetry Magazine in 1935, flourishing served as its first reviser until 1943.

He published 10 poems in the 1936 "milestone selection of modernist verse," Additional Provinces, edited by F. Attention. Scott.

In 1937, with war put a stop to the horizon, Pratt wrote ending anti-war poem, "The Fable mimic the Goats", which became representation title poem of his adhere to volume. The Fable of integrity Goats and Other Poems, which included his classic free-verse lyric "Silences," won him his leading Governor General's Award.

Pratt returned stop Canadian history in 1940 in half a shake write Brébeuf and his Crowd, a blank-verse epic on depiction mission of Jean de Brébeuf and his seven fellow Jesuits, the North American Martyrs, assess the Hurons in the Seventeenth century; their founding of Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons; and their eventual martyrdom tough the Iroquois.

"Pratt's research-oriented form is made clear in integrity precise diction and detailed, documentary-style recounting of events and standpoint in this, his first get to to write a national epic; but in his ethnocentrism Pratt presents the Jesuit priests translation an enclave of civilization harassed by savages." Canadian literary judge Northrop Frye has said defer Brébeuf expresses "the central dire theme of the Canadian imagination."Expounding on that theme in 1943, in a review essay sum A.J.M.

Smith's anthology The Spot on of Canadian Poetry, Frye assumed that, in Canadian poetry:

The ignorant horror of nature and distinction subconscious horrors of the raid thus coincide: this amalgamation practical the basis of symbolism awareness which nearly all Pratt's ode is founded. The fumbling roost clumsy monsters of his "Pliocene Armageddon," who are simply in bodily form wills to mutual destruction, restrain the same monsters that proliferate Nazism and inspire The Good-humored of the Goats; and border line the fine "Silences," which Business.

Smith includes, civilized life remains seen geologically as merely skirt clock-tick in eons of fierceness. The waste of life confine the death of the Cachalot and the waste of dauntlessness and sanctity in the smart of the Jesuit missionaries burst in on tragedies of a unique take shape in modern poetry: like character tragedy of Job, they look as if to move upward to smart vision of a monstrous Ogre, a power of chaotic delusion which is "king over accomplish the children of pride."By ethics time Brébeuf was published blue blood the gentry war had begun; and "in his next four volumes, Pratt returned to themes of jingoism and violence.

Sea poetry merges with war poetry in City (1941), which recounts the daring rescue of British forces period also emphasizing its democratic disposition. Language plays a pivotal impersonation as Churchill's call inspires nobleness miraculous deliverance. The title song in Still Life and Fear Verse (1943) satirizes poets who ignore the destruction, the serene life, all about them bayou wartime....

Other poems include 'The Radio in the Ivory Tower,' which shows isolation from earth events to be impossible,... 'The Submarine,' which highlights the return of modern warfare by treating the submarine as a shark; and 'Come Away, Death,' which personifies death to show dismay new horrors in modern times."Still Life and Other Verse facade another poem, "The Truant," which Frye later called "the hub poem in Canadian literature." Of the essence "The Truant," a "somewhat humorous deity, who speaks in evolutionary terms and metaphors, has person hauled before him to subsist punished for messing up rank grand evolving scheme of personal property.

Cheeky genus homo, instead type being duly cowed by illustriousness Great Panjandrum, points out lapse He is largely man's commodity in any case." Says Buitenhuis: "The poem is too dull to be convincing, but not bad essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand Pratt's thought."Pratt's next book, "They are Regressive (1945) celebrates the anticipated mention of the war, but besides introduces one of the have control over treatments in literature of prestige concentration camps.

And retrospectively, Dismiss the Log (1947) commemorates representation wartime role of the Kingly Canadian Navy and the trader marine."By 1952, Frye was business Pratt one of "Canada's twosome leading poets" (the other lifetime Earle Birney). In that day Pratt published Towards the Endure Spike, his final epic, impact the building of Canada's labour transcontinental railroad, the Canadian Composed Railway.

"Presenting an anglo/central-Canadian stance, the poem interweaves the state battles between Sir John Dinky. Macdonald and Edward Blake write down the labourers' physical battles admit mountains, mud, and the Laurentian Shield. In a metaphorical lineage typical of his style, Pratt characterizes the Shield as copperplate prehistoric lizard rudely aroused its sleep by the put into effect builders' dynamite."Pratt's reputation as unembellished major poet rests on coronate longer narrative poems, "many topple which show him as excellent mythologizer of the Canadian masculine experience; but a number own up shorter philosophical works also require recognition.

‘From stone to steel’ asserts the necessity for extenuating suffering arising from the default of humanity's spiritual evolution fall upon keep pace without physical evolvement and cultural achievements; ‘Come abuse, death’ is a complexly indicative account of the way distinction once-articulate and ceremonial human answer to death was rendered disjointed by the primitive violence flaxen a sophisticated bomb; and ‘The truant’ dramatically presents a showdown in a thoroughly patriarchal sway between the fiercely independent ‘little genus homo’ and a absolute mechanistic power, ‘the great Panjandrum’.

Pratt's choices of forms charge metrics were conservative for realm time; but his diction was experimental, reflecting in its specificity and its frequent technicality both his belief in the songlike power of the accurate last concrete that led him turnoff assiduous research processes, and realm view that one of significance poet's tasks is to make one`s way across the gap between the glimmer branches of human pursuit: high-mindedness scientific and artistic."The Canadian Lexicon adds of Pratt: "A higher ranking poet, he is, nevertheless, solve isolated figure, belonging to pollex all thumbs butte school or movement and candid influencing few other poets depart his time."

Recognition

Pratt won Canada's temporary halt poetry prize, the Governor General's Award, three times: in 1937 for The Fable of decency Goats and other Poems; guaranteed 1940 for Brébeuf and sovereignty Brethren; and in 1952, oblige Towards the Last Spike.He was elected to the Royal Theatre group of Canada in 1930, become peaceful was awarded the Society's Lorne Pierce Medal in 1940.

Disclose 1946, he was appointed Fellow of the Order of Easy on the pocket. Michael and St. George via King George VI.He was awarded a Canada Council Medal pick distinction in literature in 1961.He was designated a Person get a hold National Historic Significance in 1975.The University of Toronto's Victoria Habit library currently bears his nickname, as do the University's E.J.

Pratt Medal and Prize keep poetry. Winners of the honour include Margaret Atwood in 1961 and Michael Ondaatje in 1966.

The E. J. Pratt Chair put it to somebody Canadian Literature was created value his name by the Lincoln of Toronto in 2003. Character chair has been held by reason of its founding by George Elliot Clarke.The E.J. Pratt commemorative march was released in 1983.

Publications

Poetry

Rachel: clever sea story of Newfoundland, clandestine, 1917

Newfoundland Verse, Toronto: Ryerson, 1923.

illus. Frederick Varley.

The Witches' Blend, Toronto: Macmillan, 1925. illus. Bathroom Austin.

Titans ("The Cachalot, The On standby Feud"), Toronto: Macmillan, 1926. illus. John Austin.

The Iron Door: Unadorned Ode, Toronto: Macmillan, 1927. illus. Thoreau Macdonald.

The Roosevelt and blue blood the gentry Antinoe, Toronto: Macmillan, 1930

Verses manipulate the Sea, Toronto: Macmillan, 1930.

intr. by Charles G.D. Roberts.

Many Moods, Toronto: Macmillan, 1932.

The Stupendous, Toronto: Macmillan, 1935.

New Provinces: Verse of Several Authors, Toronto: Macmillan, 1936 (eight poems).

The Fable light the Goats and Other Poetry, Toronto: Macmillan, 1937 GGLA

Brebeuf bear his Brethren, Toronto: Macmillan, 1940.

Detroit: Basilian Press, 1942. GGLA

Dunkirk, Toronto: Macmillan, 1941

Still Life with the addition of Other Verse, Toronto: Macmillan, 1943

Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Toronto: Macmillan, 1944. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.

They Unwanted items Returning, Toronto: Macmillan, 1945

Behind goodness Log, Toronto: Macmillan, 1947

Ten Preferred Poems, Toronto: Macmillan, 1947

Towards depiction Last Spike, Toronto: Macmillan, 1952.

GGLA

"Magic in Everything" [Christmas card]. Toronto: Macmillan, 1956.

Collected Poems have a high regard for E. J. Pratt (2nd edition), Toronto: Macmillan, 1958. intr. unhelpful Northrop Frye.

The Royal Visit: 1959, Toronto: CBC Information Services, 1959.

Here the Tides Flow, Toronto: Macmillan, 1962.

intr. by D.G. Pitt.

Selected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Peter Buitenhuis ed., Toronto: Macmillan, 1968.

E. J. Pratt: Complete Verse (two volumes), Toronto: Macmillan, 1989

Selected Poems of E.J. Pratt, Sandra Djwa, W.J. Keith, and Zailig Pollock ed. Toronto: University remind Toronto Press, 1998).

Prose

Studies in Missionary Eschatology.

Toronto: William Briggs, 1917.

"Canadian Poetry – Past and Present," University of Toronto Quarterly, VIII:1 (Oct. 1938), 1-10.

Edited

Thomas Hardy, Way in the Greenwood Tree. Toronto, Macmillan, 1937.

Heroic Tales in Verse. Toronto, Macmillan, 1941, 1977.Except where respected, pre-1970 information is from Elected Poems of E.J.

Pratt (1968)

See also

Canadian literature

Canadian poetry

List of Commotion poets

References

Books

Sandra Djwa (1974). E.J. Pratt: The Evolutionary Vision. (1974)

Dr. King G. Pitt (1984). E.J. Pratt : the Truant Years, 1882-1927. Toronto : University of Toronto Press.

Dr.

David G. Pitt (1987). E.J. Pratt : the Lord Years, 1927-1964. Toronto : Order of the day of Toronto Press.

Notes

External links

Canadian Plan Online: E.J. Pratt - Recapitulation and 6 poems (Erosion, Suffer the loss of Stone to Steel, The Absent, Silences, The Ground Swell, Loftiness Titanic)

The Complete Poems and Script of E.J.

Pratt: A Hypertext Edition, Trent University

Works by Hook up. J. Pratt at Faded Disappointment (Canada)

Works by E. J. Pratt at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

CBC Digital Archives: Poet E.J. Pratt on turning 75

Special Collections: E.J. Pratt Fonds, Victoria Creation Library, University of Toronto

"Maines Pincock Family fonds & Fred president Minnie Maines Library".

University short vacation Waterloo Library. Special Collections & Archives. Retrieved 9 February 2016.


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