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Explanatory
Notes
Susanna
Moodie
The
Back-Woodsman
1 Son
of the isles Citizen of
the British Isles.
9 cot Little
house or cottage.
23 glebe Plot
of land to be cultivated.
The
Poet
25
“mortal coil” Human
turmoil; an allusion to Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
To
sleep, perchance to dream: aye there’s the
rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us pause. (3.1.
66-69)
The
Otonabee
Otonabee River
that flows through the southern Ontario town of Peterborough.
38 bark Small
sailing ship.
Lines...
7 Columbia The
United States, after Christopher Columbus.
28 degraded Helot A
serf of ancient Sparta. Members of the earlier population
enslaved by Dorian conquerors who, tradition has it,
occasionally plied
them with liquor to prove to their sons that drunkenness
was disgusting.
The
Maple Tree
69 Meet Suitable,
fitting.
The
future flower...
6 cerements Winding
sheets treated with wax or other gummy substance and
used to wrap dead bodies. [Page 405]
Grace
Marks
Grace
Marks (1827-died after 1872) One of early Canada’s
most notorious criminals
believed to have murdered her employer and his housekeeper
in 1843
when she was only sixteen. Moodie’s encounters
with her are recorded in
Life in the Clearings and she is the central character
of Margaret Atwood’s novel
Alias Grace.
Rosanna Leprohon
An
Autumn Evening at Murray Bay
Murray
Bay J.C. Stockwell identifies
this poem’s setting as Point au Pic,
on
the north shore of the St. Lawrence River below Quebec
City.
Far
West Emigrant
32 linnet A
small finch common in the Old World, known as a song-bird.
39 God speed me “God
prosper me.” A wish for a successful journey.
A
Modern Courtship
35 Sèvres
china Costly porcelain made
in the French town of Sèvres near Paris.
36 phaeton and pair A
light four-wheeled carriage open at the sides and pulled
by a pair of horses.
The
Tryst of the Sachem’s Daughter
Sachem The
chief of a confederation of Algonquian First Nations
of the North Atlantic
coast or, more generally, any Native chief.
64 pinions Wings.
69 Manitou An
Algonquian deity or spirit.
The
Recollect Church
The
following footnote to the title “The Recollect
Church” appeared in The Poetical
Works of Mrs. Leprohon: [Page 406]
“In
process of demolition when this poem was written.
The Recollect Friars purchased the ground on which
the church in question was built in 1692, and on it
they constructed a temporary chapel. The actual edifice,
however, was not erected till about the year 1706.
The order is now extinct. After the conquest their
property was confiscated by the Government, and subsequently
exchanged for St. Helen’s Island, then belonging
to Baron Grant. For a time the Recollect Church served
as a place of worship for both Protestants and Catholics,
and for many years was exclusively devoted to the
use of the Irish Catholics.”
Recollect Branch
of the Franciscan order which originated in Spain at
the end of
the fifteenth century and was dedicated to the recollection
of God.
9 fanes Temples.
19 Dalhousie’s
fortress A footnote to this
line in The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon
reads “Levelled a few years after the Conquest.
It occupied that part
of East Montreal now known as Dalhousie Square.”
The ninth Earl of Dalhousie,
George Ramsay (1770-1838) served as governor in chief
of the Canadian
colonies from 1819 to 1828.
51 Erin’s
shore Ireland.
68 ken Vision,
understanding.
Sister
M.B.’s Arrival in Montreal, 1654
Sister
M.B. Marguerite Bourgeois
(1620-1700), nun who came to Canada in 1652
and founded the Congregation de Notre Dame of Montreal.
She educated
girls both rich and poor, Native and white, and was
instrumental in building
Montreal’s first stone church.
Charles
VII and Joan of Arc at Rheims
1 Rheims French
city where the Dauphin was crowned Charles VII
(1403- 1461) on July 17, 1429 after Joan of Arc’s
decisive military intervention
on his behalf. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) was a deeply
religious peasant
girl who became convinced the saints had chosen her
to repulse the
English.
11 Renaud
Chartres (1375-1444) Archbishop
of Rheims.
20 Oriflamme Literally
golden flame, a brightly coloured banner inspiring devotion
or courage.
39 Promethean
spark The Titan Prometheus
stole fire from the gods and was severely
punished by Zeus. One year after her momentous victory
over the English
at Orleans, Joan of Arc was captured by them and burned
at the stake
as a heretic. [Page 407]
Agnes Maule Machar
To
a Friend in Europe
Coelum
non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. He
who rushes across the
sea changes his location, not his spirit.
12 Pyrenees Mountains
along the French-Spanish border.
Laura
Secord
18 Fitzgibbon During
the War of 1812, Laura Secord (1775-1868) walked thirty
kilometres from Queenston to Beaver Dams to warn the
British Officer James
Fitzgibbon (1780-1863) that the Americans were planning
to attack his
outpost.
21 Boerstler Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles Boerstler (1778-?) was the leader of five
hundred American soldiers who eventually surrendered.
Quebec
to Ontario
Riel Métis
leader Louis Riel (1844-1885) was a central figure in
the
North-west Rebellion and was put on trial for treason
in Regina on July 20, 1885.
Many rallied to his support, particularly French Canadians,
but he was nonetheless
executed on November 16, 1885.
3 DeMont As
royal commissioner to New France, Sieur de Monts (fl.
1662) journeyed
to Quebec in 1662 to inspect the colony. He was reportedly
“very pleased”
with what he saw.
3 Cartier Jacques
Cartier (1491-1557), French navigator who led three
journeys
of exploration up the St. Lawrence River (which he discovered)
in 1534,
1535, and 1541.
4 Champlain Samuel
de Champlain (1567-1635), known as the “father
of New
France,” travelled up the St. Lawrence in 1603
and in 1608, founded Quebec
which became the gateway to a vast fur-trading network
with the Natives
of the interior.
An
Indian Summer Carol
12 isles
Elysian The “happy
or delightful” islands, the dwelling of the blessed
after
death in Greek mythology.
21 Tyrian
purple In reference to the
purple dye made from molluscs at Tyre, an
ancient city on the Mediterranean. [Page 408]
40 Eleatics Term
used for the philosophy of Xenophanes, Parmenides and
Zeno
who were from the ancient city of Elea in southern Italy.
Our
Canadian Fatherland
2 Norembega In
the sixteenth century, Norumbega appears on maps as
an area
corresponding to present day Nova Scotia and Maine.
In contrast to the
more forbidding coastline of Newfoundland, it was envisioned
as a wealthy
and welcoming paradise.
49 McGee Thomas
D’Arcy McGee (1825-1868), Irish-born politician
and author
who moved to Montreal in 1857 and published Canadian
Ballads, and
Occasional Verses (1858). As a father of Confederation,
he called for the
development of a distinctive Canadian literature. He
was assasinated at the
age of 42.
49 Howe Joseph
Howe (1804-1873), Halifax newspaper editor and author
whose
poems and essays were published posthumously in 1874.
Howe served
as premier of Nova Scotia (1860-63) and, after initially
resisting Confederation,
became a federal minister who was instrumental in bringing
Manitoba
into the Union.
51 Fréchette Louis
Fréchette (1839-1908), Quebec lawyer and author
who published
over twelve volumes of poetry, stories, essays and plays.
Considered
the most important man of letters in nineteenth century
Québec, he
was awarded the Prix Montyon by the French Academy in
1880.
An
August Morning
17 birchen
shallop Traditionally, a
small open boat propelled by oars or sails and
used in shallow water, but here a canoe made of birchbark.
The
Madonna of the Entry
12 “no
room at the inn” “And
she [Mary] brought forth her first born son [Jesus],
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in
a manger; because
there was no room for them in the inn [in Bethlehem]”
(Luke 2:7).
21 “many mansions” Jesus
to his disciples: “In my Father’s house
are many mansions;
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare
a place for you”
(John 14:2). [Page 409]
The
Indian Pipe
8 fields
Tartarean Hades, or the
region beneath Hades in classical mythology.
29 Iphigenia In
Greek mythology, Agamemnon’s daughter sacrificed
to gain favourable
winds to accompany the Greek fleet to Troy.
Isabella Valancy Crawford
Canada
to England
7 Samson
yet unshorn A hero in the
Hebrew Bible or Old Testament who was
famous for his strength which he used against the Philistines.
Samson’s
great strength disappeared when Delilah had his hair
cut while he was
sleeping (Judges 16:1-22).
26 Man hath dominion “What
is man that thou art mindful of him?… Thou madest
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
has put all things
under his feet” (Psalm 8:4-6).
57 Who loveth not his
kin… “For he
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (I
John 4:20).
War
36 Te
Deum From the opening words
of the Latin hymn, “Thee, God, we praise…”
which is part of the Matins (morning prayers).
A
Wooing
4 natty Neatly
smart.
4 ulster A
long loose overcoat with waistbelt named for the most
northerly province
in Ireland.
14 Hesper The
evening star.
22 Woerth Charles
Frederick Worth (1825-1895), celebrated English-born
designer
who became a founder of Paris haute couture. Creator
of the bustle
and sumptuous evening gowns for the rich and famous,
especially Empress
Eugénie of France.
28 lancers A
set of five quadrilles, a kind of square dance.
29 rollers Songs
in which the notes are soft and run together.
35 spanking trotters Dashing
and spirited horses. [Page 410]
46 Schuman Robert
Schumann (1810-1856), German composer particularly known
for his piano music and songs.
47 Thalberg Sigismond
Thalberg (1812-1871), leading rival of Franz Liszt as
virtuoso
pianist whose concert tours took him to England and
the United States.
64 opera bouffe French
comic opera combining witty spoken dialogue with music.
66 Madame Angot’s
daughter A popular classic
of opera bouffe was La fille de
Madame Angot (1872) written by French composer
Charles Lecocq (1832-1918)
and performed all over the world.
At
the Opera—A Fragment
5 Lorgnettes A
pair of opera glasses with a handle.
76 Thermopalyae A
narrow pass on the coast of Greece which, in 480 BC,
was
held for three days by a small Greek force under the
Spartan king Leonidas
against a large Persian army; symbolic of heroic resistance
against
great odds.
108 basilisk A legendary
reptile with a fatal glance.
110 Hesperian Fruit In
Greek mythology, the golden apples thought to symbolize
immortality stolen by Hercules and given to Hera as
a wedding gift;
the nymphs who guarded the golden apples at the western
extremity of the
earth were the daughters of Hesperus.
123 Latakia A fine kind
of Turkish tobacco produced near and shipped from Latakia,
a seaport of Syria.
Said
the Canoe
44 gaffing A
method of catching fish with a spear.
Toronto
35 porphyry Purple
or dark red stone embedded with feldspar cyrstals.
The
Ghosts of the Trees
167
fetter and band The
original publication of this poem in “Old
Spookses’ Pass,”
“Malcolm’s Katie,” and Other Poems
closed with an additional stanza:
[Page 411]
Never,
ye
Ask
of the tree,
The “Wherefore” or “Why”
the tall trees stand,
Built in their places on the land!
Their
souls unknit;
With any wisdom or any wit,
The
subtle “Why,”
Ask ye not of earth or sky—
But
one command it.
All
Men are Born Free and Equal
All
men are born free and equal This
phrase that appears in the Constitution of
Massachussets (1778) is a variation on a passage
in the American Declaration
of Independence (1776) drafted by Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826).
34 sphinxes The
most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx at Giza in Egypt.
With
a man’s head and a lion’s body, it is a
portrait statue of the king; in Greek
mythology the sphinx was a being who posed a riddle
that no man but Oedipus
could answer.
40 Rhadamanthus In
Greek mythology, a son of Zeus and Europa and one of
the
judges of the lower world; an inflexible judge or severe
master who punishes
the wicked for their misdeeds.
Egypt,
I Die!
Egypt,
I Die! Words from the last
speech of Mark Antony to Cleopatra, Queen of
Egypt, in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
5.15.42ff.
5 Falernian
Wine celebrated by Horace, coming from Campania, Italy.
13 Colossus One
of the Seven Wonders of the World, a huge statue (120
feet high)
of Apollo built at the entry to the harbour of Rhodes
in 280 BC.
16 Fulvia Mark
Antony’s wife Fulvia and his brother made war
against Antony but
were defeated at Perusia in 40 BC where Fulvia died,
leaving him free to
remarry.
36 Cydnus Son
of the nymph Anchiale who, according to legend, was
half-man and half-river in form.
Hugh
and Ion
35 Barabbas A
murderer and insurrectionist held in custody at the
time [Page 413]
of the trial of Jesus (Mark 15:17). All four
gospels record that when Pilate
offered to release Jesus, the crowd demanded the release
of Barabbas
instead, and Jesus was crucified.
51 Benedict Barabbas Benedict
Arnold (1741-1801) was an American Revolutionary
general whose name became an epithet for traitor when
he shifted
his allegiance to the British for a sum of 20,000 pounds.
186 Helot Spartan
serf, neither a slave nor a free citizen.
208 Samson soul A
hero in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament who was famed
for his great strength which he used in his battles
against the Philistines.
388 kertle Kirtle,
a long gown or dress worn by women.
399 sibyl-like Like
a female prophet or fortune teller.
405 zany A subordinate
clown in old comedies who ludicrously mimics the tricks
of his principal.
416 tiger’s tawny paw Ion
alludes to Isaiah’s description in the Hebrew
Bible or Old
Testament of the peacable kingdom to come: “The
wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
shall lead them” (Isaiah
11:6).
428 Gatlings Machine
guns invented by the American Richard Gatling
(1818-1903) in 1862 during the American Civil War and
capable of shooting
three thousand rounds per minute.
481 Maskelonge A
large North American pike that may weigh sixty to eighty
pounds
and is prized by fishermen.
533 plinth Stones
forming a foundation or base.
665 con’d Conducted
or directed as in the steering of a ship, or committed
to memory.
698 Walpurgian Saint
Walburga (710-779) was an abbess and missionary to Germany.
After her death, her memory became confused with Waldborg,
a heathen
fertility goddess. On Walpurgis night, May 1, witches
were believed to
rendevous in the mountains near her relics.
746 placket Usually
the opening in a dress or blouse, but here a pocket,
especially
in a woman’s skirt.
784 Pythia The
title of the priestess of the Delphic Oracle.
Ethelwyn
Wetherald
Hester
Prynne Speaks
Hester
Prynne is the central character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
Scarlet [Page 413] Letter
(1850) who is forced to wear the scarlet “A”
for adultery. The daughter she bears out of wedlock
is named Pearl.
Susan Frances Harrison
Niagara
in Winter
“force” The
original publication of this poem in the Week included
this footnote
:
“North-Country
for ‘fall’.”
“J’ai
Trop Bu la Vie”
George
Sand Pen name of Amandine
Lucie Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), French
writer as famous for her independent spirit and affairs
with men such as
Alfred de Musset and Frederic Chopin, as for her novels.
England
13 Tintern Tintern
Abbey is an ecclesiastical ruin on the west bank of
the River
Wye in Wales, made famous by William Wordsworth’s
poem of the same
name.
15 Furness Agricultural
district in the scenic region of England known as the
Lake
District.
Paranthese
5 Pan In
Greek mythology, the god of woods and fields, who has
a human torso
and head with the legs and horns of a goat.
6 Nereid Sea
nymph, one of the fifty daughters of Nereus, the sea
god.
8 Demeter’s daughter The
daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture in
Greek mythology, was Persphone who was captured by Hades
to become
Queen of the underworld for part of each year.
16 Olympic quarrel Mount
Olympus in Thessaly was held to be the home of the
Greek gods who often fought amongst themselves.
26 Theocritus Greek
poet who composed the earliest known pastoral poems
in the third century BC. [Page 414]
The
Thousand Islands
10 Odysseus Or
Ulysses; in Greek mythology, the king of Ithaca, and
leader of
the Greeks in the Trojan War, who reached home after
ten years of wandering.
November
10 Yorick The
dead jester of the murdered king in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. Hamlet
addresses his skull remembering him as “a fellow
of infinite jest, of most
excellent fancy” (5.1. 184-85).
37 Duty was his star An
allusion to William Wordsworth’s poem “Ode
to Duty:”
Stern
Daughter of the Voice of God!
O
Duty! if that name thou love,
Who
art a light to guide, a rod
To
check the erring and reprove. (1-4)
To
a Garden Thistle (8 Feet High)
6 Tyrian
purple In reference to the
purple dye made from molluscs at Tyre, an ancient city
on the Mediterranean.
A
Canadian Anthology
1 Meleager Greek
poet (fl. first century BC) whose Garland (90-80 BC)
opens
The Greek Anthology, a collection of epigrammatic Greek
poems.
3 Theocritus Greek
poet (early third century BC), considered the inventor
of the
pastoral.
3 Simmias Simmias
was a poet and grammarian who lived in Rhodes about
300
BC. His works include an epic on Apollo.
3 Plato Greek
philosopher (c. 427-347 BC), a follower of Socrates
who presented
his ideas as dramatic dialogues.
5 Sappho Greek
lyric poet who flourished around 600 BC. She is considered
one of the greatest poets of antiquity though only fragments
of her
lyrics survive.
8 Maori-land New
Zealand.
9 Ganges The
most sacred of India's rivers. [Page 415]
97 Ithaca An
island in western Greece, traditionally considered the
home of Odysseus.
Pauline Johnson
“Through
Time and Bitter Distance”
Johnson
titles her poem after a line from Charles G.D. Roberts’
poem “Rain.”
The
Idlers
45 lotus-land An
allusion to an episode in Homer’s Odyssey (9.
82-87) in which
the veterans of the Trojan War become forgetful of the
homeward way after
eating “the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus.”
In Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The
Lotos-Eaters,” also based on this passage, the
mariners vow to live forever
in lotos-land “and to lie reclined/On the hills
like Gods together, careless
of mankind” (154-55).
The
Ballad of Yaada
1 Lulu
Island Island formed by
branches of the Fraser River that is part of the present-day
city of Vancouver known as Richmond.
4 Capilano
cañon Scenic gorge
along the Capilano River in North Vancouver,
British Columbia.
25 Haida First
Nation inhabiting the Queen Charlotte Islands of the
British Columbia
coast.
Annie Charlotte Dalton
Listening
In
79 springe Snare
or trap.
86 Grand
Pre Site of the church and
cemetery of the seventeenth and eighteenth
century Acadian village that became the setting for
Longfellow’s narrative
poem “Evangeline” about the Acadian Expulsion.
97 bights Bays
formed by bends in a coastline. [Page 416]
120 La Halle Adam de
la Halle (1235-1288) was a French poet and composer
known for Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion and Le Jeu
de la Feuillée
(“Play of the Greensward”).
133 Lorelei A siren
in German legend who lures sailors on the Rhine to their
destruction
with her singing.
139 Israfel In Islamic
tradition, the archangel who will blow the trumpet from
a holy
rock in Jerusalem to announce the Day of Resurrection.
142 Orion A hunter in
Greek mythology who violated his betrothed Merope and
was blinded by her father. His vision was restored by
the rays of the sun,
and, at his death, he became a constellation.
147 Michael An archangel
usually portrayed as the warrior leader of the heavenly
hosts against the forces of evil.
148 Gabriel An angel
of God who brought messages from heaven to earth including
the announcement of Christ’s birth.
The
Sounding Portage
10 mort A
great quantity or number.
The
Skraelings
8 Gallia Gaul,
ancient region of Western Europe corresponding roughly
to modern-day
France and Belgium.
24 Magdalenians An
Upper Paleolithic culture named for La Madeleine, a
rock
shelter in southwest France and known for their flint,
bone, and ivory implements,
as well as their carvings and paintings.
36 Odin The
chief god in Germanic mythology, who was god of wisdom,
war, and
the dead. Like the Greek god, Apollo, he was also associated
with poetry
and culture. He had only one eye because he gave the
other in exchange
for wisdom.
Flowers
for Lady Franklin
Lady
Franklin Lady Jane Franklin
(1792-1875), wife of Sir John Franklin (1786-1847),
British explorer who died along with his entire crew
of 129 men
while searching for the Northwest Passage in Canada’s
Arctic. Lady Franklin
raised money for a final search and rescue mission in
1857 which discovered
skeletons of the crew and a written account of the expedition.
She
was buried in Kensal Green, West London. [Page
417]
The
Praying Mantis
3 Mantis An
insect that feeds upon other insects and clasps its
prey in
fore-limbs held up as if in prayer.
To
Hathor the Mistress of Turquoise
3 Hathor The
Egyptian sky goddess, counterpart of Osiris, representing
love and
joy.
11 sistrum An
ancient Egyptian percussion instrument consisting of
a thin metal
frame with numerous metal rods or loops that jingle
when shaken.
13 Jacob After
a vision of angels descending from heaven and God’s
blessing
upon him and his descendants, Jacob awoke and said,
“Surely the Lord
is in this place, and I knew it not” (Genesis
28:16).
14 Sinai The
sacred mountain upon which God gave his Ten Commandments
to
Moses.
18 Pharaoh Ruler
of ancient Egypt.
19 beetling Prominent
and overhanging.
Sophia Almon Hensley
The
photo from the Notman Collection, in the Public Archives
of Nova Scotia, is identified as “Miss S.M. Almon”
and is presumed to be of Sophia Hensley.
Soothing
18 laudanum A
solution prepared from opium that was used as a narcotic
painkiller.
Slack
Tide
26 barm Foamy
yeast formed on fermenting liquors.
Pictures
1 Paschal
moon Relating to Passover
or Easter.
2 Lenten earth Somber,
spare, from Lent, the period of penitence and
[Page
418] fasting leading up to Easter.
14 Narcissus Kind
of daffodil named for the beautiful youth in Greek legend
who
pined away for love of his own image and was transformed
into a flower.
28 Celandine Yellow
flower of the poppy family.
Loneliness
10 mackerel
weir An enclosure consisting
of nets strung on poles for fishing in tidal
waters.
35 pet Favourite,
darling.
Barter
37 chaffering Haggling
or bargaining.
A
Dream
55 ramage The
collective branches of a tree or trees; also the song
of birds.
Courage
This
poem was first published with the title “Somewhere
in France.”
3 If it be possible… Jesus’s
prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night
before he was crucified (Matthew 26:39).
9 ribbon or your
cross Decorations for courage.
The Victoria Cross, established
in 1856, was the British Empire’s highest military
award for conspicuous
valour.
Love’s
Rights
18 chrism Consecrated
oil used in some churches especially in baptism, and
confirmation.
Karma
Karma In
Hinduism and Buddhism the force generated by people’s
actions that
determines their destiny in their next existence. [Page
419]
Repatriated
3 Avon The
Avon River flows into the Minas Basin near the town
of Windsor, Nova
Scotia.
4 Blomidon The
towering cliffs of Cape Blomidon overlook Nova Scotia’s
Minas
Basin on the Bay of Fundy.
19 St. Mary’s Bay The
body of water between the mainland of Nova Scotia and
a peninsula stretching into the Bay of Fundy called
the Digby Neck.
27 gloam Twilight.
Katherine Hale
The
New Joan
47 bourne Stream;
also limit or boundary.
84 anent About;
concerning.
86 Peter Pan A
boy in Sir James Barrie’s play Peter Pan (1902)
who never grows
up.
Cun-ne-wa-bum
5 Paul
Kane The most famous of
all Canadian artist-explorers, Paul Kane (1810-1871)
set out from Toronto in 1845 to paint a record of the
Native way
of life in the West.
16 Factor An
agent in charge of a trading post.
28 Sarcees Members
of the Athapascan First Nation, which formerly lived
along
the Athabasca River in northern Alberta.
31 Sheridan Richard
Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), British playwright known
for his satirical comedies of manners including The
Rivals (1775) and
School for Scandal (1777).
An
Old Lady
17 Rideau
Hall Official residence
of Canada’s Governor General located at 1 Sussex
Drive in Ottawa.
24 Chateau Laurier Large
and elegant hotel in downtown Ottawa, famous for its
castle-like exterior.
32 Red River The
Red River colony was founded in 1812 by the Earl of
[Page
420] Selkirk on the Red and Assiniboine rivers
in present-day Manitoba.
Going
North
11 Pickering,
Whitby, Oshawa Towns on
the outskirts of the city of Toronto.
131 Lake Mazinawa Mazinaw
Lake is located north of Kaladar, Ontario in Lennox
county, and is now part of Bon Echo Provincial Park.
148 Georgian Bay The
largest of Lake Huron’s bays.
The
Island
63 Lake
Traverse Lake located in
the northeastern part of Algonquin Park in Eastern
Ontario.
Negro
Church Bazaar
13 quadroons Persons
of quarter African descent.
38 Swanee River Popular
song written in 1919 by George Gershwin and Irving
Caesar inspired by Stephen Foster’s 1851 song
“Old Folks at Home.”
Dancer
and the Dust
1 Siva One
of the principal Hindu dieties, worshipped as the destroyer
and restorer
of worlds.
Louise Morey Bowman
She
Plans her Funeral
6 panoply Ceremonial
attire or armour.
Oranges
25 “Our
days as grass” Hymn
based on Psalm 103:15, “As for man, his days are
as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.”
61 delaine High
quality wool fabric used for dresses. [Page
421]
77 “great divine” Clergyman
or theologian.
138 old order “The
old order changeth, yielding place to new.” Alfred
Tennyson,
Idylls of the King, “The Passing of Arthur”
(408).
The
Mountain that Watched
1 In
the beginning… Phrases
from the opening passage in the Hebrew Bible
or Old Testament which recounts the creation of the
world.
6 Mountain Mount
Royal, the mountain at the center of Montreal for which
the city
was named.
38 inward eye A
phrase from the following passage in William Wordsworth’s
poem,
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud:”
For
oft, when on my couch I lie
In
vacant or in pensive mood,
They
flash upon that inward eye
Which
is the bliss of solitude;
And
then my heart with pleasure fills,
And
dances with the daffodils. (19-24)
54 It’s
all like a magic casement… An
allusion to John Keats’s poem “Ode to a
Nightingale:”
The
same [song] that oft-times hath
Charmed
magic casements, opening on the foam
Of
perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. (68-70)
60 cast
their sins On the first
day of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, it is
customary for many to symbolically cast their sins into
the river in a ceremony
called tashlikh (“thou wilt cast”).
82 And have not charity “Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal”
(I Corinthians 13:1).
82 Through a glass darkly “For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face
to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known”
(I Corinthians 13:12).
83 classic daffodils Daffodils
appear in William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered
Lonely as a Cloud” quoted above, but are also
associated with the
asphodel flower that led Persephone to her peril.
131 take up your tray This
comment on the self-service restaurant is considered
“blasphemous” because it is a play on Jesus’
command to the [Page
422] crippled man, “Rise, take up thy
bed and walk” (John 5:8).
138 Day uttereth speech “The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto
night sheweth knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2).
Garden
in Agra
4 Agra City
in North India, site of the Taj Mahal.
4 Canterbury-bells Bell-like
flowers cultivated for their showy pink, white, and
mauve
blossoms.
13 passing show Harriet
Monroe (1860-1936), editor of Poetry (Chicago)
in which
Bowman’s poems appeared, published a collection
of five verse plays
entitled The Passing Show in 1903. A Broadway
musical by the same name
played from 1913 into the 1920s at the Winter Garden
Theatre.
14 ayah Indian
equivalent of a nanny, a term introduced into the Anglo-Indian
vernacular
from the Portuguese.
Dragon
Orchard
44 copper
solution Probably the Bordeaux
mixture invented by French botanist
Pierre Millardet (1838-1902)—a solution of copper
sulfate, lime and
water effective against fungus diseases attacking vineyards
and orchards.
Blue vitriol is another solution of copper salts used
in insecticides.
Waxworks
John
Knox Foremost leader of
the Scottish Reformation, John Knox
(1514-1572) set the austere moral tone of the Church
of Scotland. In exile in Geneva
he wrote First blast of the trumpet against the
monstruous regiment
of women directed against the three women then
reigning in England,
France, and Scotland all of whom were oppressing Protestantism.
Mary
Queen of Scots arrived in Scotland in 1561 convinced
that Knox was to
be her archenemy and they had four celebrated encounters,
the last of which
was filled with deep hatred and fury.
Mary
Queen Mary Stuart (1542-1587),
controversial Queen of Scotland who
grew up in France, but returned to Scotland in 1561.
Her cousin, Queen Elizabeth
I of England held her prisoner for 18 years and finally
had her executed.
She was a Roman Catholic.
15 galliard A
lively dance of five steps popular in the sixteenth
and seventeenth
[Page 423] centuries.
20 petits gateaux Little
cakes.
23 Lochleven In
1567, Mary was incarcerated by the Scottish nobility
on the tiny
island of Loch Leven, a four mile long lake in east
Scotland, north of Edinburgh.
27 Holyrood Holyroodhouse,
palace in Edinburgh, Scotland erected on the site
of Holyrood Abbey in the early sixteenth century.
Mermaid
1 Fra
Lippo Lippi (1406-1469)
Italian monk and painter famous for The Madonna
with Saints and his role as teacher of Botticelli.
He is the subject of
a poem by Robert Browning.
12 Lilith According
to Hebrew legend, the first wife of Adam who, refusing
to be
considered inferior, was expelled from Eden to haunt
the wilderness as a demon.
Pink
23 Velasquez Diego
Velázquez (1599-1660), Spanish court painter
at Madrid
famous for his portraits of Philip IV and the Infanta
Maria Theresa.
Marjorie Pickthall
Persephone
Returning to Hades
Persephone The
daughter of Demeter (or Ceres), the goddess of grain,
Persephone
(or Proserpine) was abducted by Hades (or Pluto) to
be queen of
the underworld, but allowed to spend part of every year
with her mother. Her
departure to Hades signalled the onset of winter.
23 asphodel In
Greek mythology, the flowers of Hades, sacred to Persephone,
and equated with the daffodil.
24 Lethe River
of Hades whose water, according to Greek mythology,
causes forgetfulness
of the past in those who drink it.
32 Enna The
abduction of Persephone is generally said to have taken
place in
the grasslands of Enna in Sicily. [Page 424]
Père
Lalement
Père
Lalement Probably Jerome
Lalement (1593-1673), superior of the Jesuit
mission in Huronia and contributor to the Jesuit
Relations, but possibly
also his brother Charles Lalement (1587-1674), first
superior of the Quebec
Jesuits, or his nephew Gabriel Lalement (1610-1649)
who, along with
Jean de Brébeuf, was tortured and murdered by
the Iroquois at the fall of
Saint Ignace.
5 acolytes Those
who assist a minister with liturgical duties.
22 Stadacona Stadacona
was the Native village that occupied the site of the
present
city of Quebec.
29 St. Ignace and St.
Louis Two of the settlements
established by the Jesuits in
the region of Ontario near Georgian Bay. They were destroyed
by the Iroquois
in 1649.
32 Sidonian cedars Trees
grown in Sidon, and used for royal buildings and temples.
33 Hiram King
of Tyre, on the Phoenician coast, just north of Israel,
who assisted
King Solomon with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.
36 St. Francis-like Francis
of Assisi (1182-1226), Italian monk who inspired followers
with his devotion, simple living, and love of nature.
39 scrip Small
wallet or bag.
Kwannon
19 camphor Fragrant
gum of the camphor tree.
31 charlock Wild
mustard.
31 guerdon Reward,
recompense.
Chanson
de la Tour
58 Gabriel,
Michael Two of God’s
archangels. Michael is considered to be the
warrior angel leading the heavenly hosts against the
forces of evil, while Gabriel
is God’s messenger. Michael is associated with
the Last Judgement
and Gabriel with the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus
to Mary (Luke
1:26-38).
On
Amaryllis
1 Amaryllis A
bulb that produces showy lily-like flowers, named probably
for the
shepherdess in Virgil’s Ecologues.
4 Fowler A
hunter of birds. To lime is to entangle with birdlime,
a sticky [Page
425] substance usually made from holly bark
and smeared on twigs to
snare small birds.
13 suspires Breathes,
sighs.
14 Quires Variation
on choirs, but also a collection of sheets of paper.
20 my Race Pickthall’s
conceit brings together the blossoming of the amaryllis,
Aesop’s fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, and
the Apostle Paul’s
description of the spiritual journey as a race in Hebrews
12:1 and elsewhere.
The
Chosen
12 Herself
she cannot save A paraphrase
of the words used to taunt Christ on
the cross. “He saved others; himself he cannot
save” (Matthew 27:42)
Mary
Tired
25 seraphs Six-winged
angels of the highest rank believed to guard God’s
throne
with sacred passion.
29 Ransom of the world “For
there is one God, and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom
for all…”
(I Timothy 2:6).
The
Indian Dancer
32 Malicete or
Maliseet; An Algonquian First Nation inhabiting New
Brunswick,
Maine, and Quebec.
When
Winter Comes
1 Muchalat… Place
names in British Columbia. Muchalat Inlet is located
on the
Western coast of Vancouver Island near Nootka Sound.
Malaspina is the
Strait that divides the mainland from Texada Island.
Sooke is on the southern
tip of Vancouver Island, and Yale is on the Fraser River
in the interior.
Snow
in April
19 rack A
wind-driven mass of high often broken clouds, but also
a cause of anguish
or destruction. [Page 426]
Two
Souls
Père
Jogues Isaac Jogues (1607-1646),
Jesuit missionary who, despite being
captured and tortured by the Iroquois in 1642, volunteered
for a peace mission.
He was murdered on his second trip to Iroquois country.
7 My voice “My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me” (John
10:27).
17 Coupil René
Goupil (1608-1642), Jesuit missionary travelling into
Iroquois country
with Jogues. Their canoe convoy was ambushed and the
priests captured.
Goupil was killed soon after for making the sign of
a cross over a child.
He is considered the first Jesuit martyr of Huronia.
17 Couture Guillaume
Couture (1616-1701) originally escaped after the ambush,
but returned to help the priests and was then captured.
He survived brutal
torture to become active as an ambassador of peace,
hoping to bring an
end to the French-Indian wars.
20 Arles City
in southeastern France.
25 Huron The
First Nation among whom the Jesuit missionaries worked
with the
most success.
36 Five Nations The
Iroquois Confederacy consisting of Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas,
Cayugas, and Senecas.
Canada’s
Century
24 cloud
and flame In Exodus, the
Israelites were led to the Promised Land with
a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night
(Exodus 13:21).
Modern
Endymion
Endymion A
handsome youth who captured the heart of the moon goddess
Selene.
Some versions of the myth suggest he begged for perpetual
sleep so
he could dream of her always, and others suggest she
enchanted him so she
might come and kiss him whenever she wished. John Keats
based his long
allegorical poem Endymion (1818) on this myth.
44 candleberry bush A
shrub having small hard berries with a thick coating
of white
wax used for candles, also called a wax myrtle. [Page
427]
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