Poetry
By Stubborn Stars and Other Poems
Kenneth Leslie · 1938
Synopsis
The collection is organised around a sequence of twenty-eight sonnets that gives it its title. The poet addresses a beloved woman through the image of a perilous voyage: reef, hurricane and gales threaten the ship, and love merges with the survival of the crew. Beneath the nautical metaphor an intimate story surfaces, the separation from his wife and the distance from his children. Other poems complete the volume.
Context
The fourth book by its author, published in Toronto by Ryerson in 1938; four of his six books appeared in the thirties. He wrote in metres and fixed forms at the moment when modernism was turning away from them, which partly explains his neglect. No book by him appeared between 1938 and 1971; his poems have since been reprinted by small publishers, and Canadian anthologies have included them since 1943.
Who it is for
Sonnets in regular metres, classical in manner, for readers of love poetry and poems of the sea.
Prizes and reception
Governor General's Award for poetry for 1938, the second year of this poetry prize.
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