Gwendolyn MacEwen

by George J. Dance

Bust of Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen, Gwendolyn MacEwen Park, Toronto. Photo by Maureen Dance. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Gwendolyn MacEwen
Born	Gwendolyn Margaret MacEwen September 1 1941(1941-Template:MONTHNUMBER-01) Toronto, Ontario
Died	November 29 1987(1987-Template:MONTHNUMBER-29) (aged 46) Toronto, Ontario
Occupation	Writer
Language	English
Nationality	Canadian
Education	High school dropout, autodidact
Notable award(s)	Governor General's Award

Gwendolyn Margaret MacEwen (September 1, 1941 - November 28, 1987) was a Canadian poet and novelist.

Life

Overview

A "sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," she published more than 20 books in her brief life. "A sense of magic and mystery from her own interests in the Gnosticism, ancient Egypt, and magic itself, and from her wonderment at life and death, makes her writing unique.... She's still regarded by most as one of the best Canadian poets."

Youth and education

Gwendolyn MacEwen bust and pedestal, Gwendolyn MacEwen Park. Photo by Maureen Dance, 2011. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

MacEwen was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her mother, Elsie, spent much of her life as a patient in mental health institutions. Her father, Alick, suffered from alcoholism.

Gwendolyn MacEwen grew up in the High Park area of the city, and attended Western Technical-Commercial School.

MacEwen was a prodigy. Her 1st poem was published in The Canadian Forum when she was only 17, and she left school at 18 to pursue a writing career. By 18 she had written her 1st novel, Julian the Magician.

Career

"She was small (5'4") and slight, with a round pale face, huge blue eyes usually rimmed in kohl (Egyptian eye shadow), and long dark straight hair."

Her debut collection of poetry, The Drunken Clock, was published in 1961. She married poet Milton Acorn, 19 years her senior, in 1962, although they divorced 2 years later.

She published over 20 books, in a variety of genres. She also wrote numerous radio docudramas for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), including a "much-admired radio drama", Terror and Erebus (on the lost 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin), in 1965.

With her 2nd husband, Greek musician Niko Tsingos, MacEwen opened a Toronto coffeehouse, The Trojan Horse, in 1972. She and Tsingos translated some of the poetry of contemporary Greek writer Yiannis Ritsos (published in her 1981 book Trojan Women).

She taught herself to read Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and French, translated writers from each of those languages. In 1978 her translation of Euripides' drama The Trojan Women had its premiere performance in Toronto.

She served as writer in residence at the University of Western Ontario in 1985, and the University of Toronto in 1986 and 1987.

MacEwen died in 1987, at the age of 46, of health problems related to alcoholism. She is buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Writing

"A sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," says the Canadian Encyclopedia, MacEwen "displayed a commanding interest in magic and history as well as an elaborate and penetrating dexterity in her versecraft."

Her 2 novels – Julian the Magician, dealing with the ambiguous relationship between the hermetic philosophies of the early Renaissance and Christianity; and King of Egypt, King of Dreams, which imaginatively reconstructed the life and religious reformation of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton – blend fantasy and history.

Recognition

Gwendolyn MacEwen Park, Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Maureen Dance, 2011. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

MacEwen won the Governor General's Award in 1969 for her poetry collection The Shadow Maker. She was awarded a second Governor General's Award posthumously in 1987 for Afterworlds.

Other awards and prizes MacEwen won include the CBC New Canadian Writing Contest for poetry in 1965; the A.J.M. Smith Poetry Award in 1973; the Borestone Mountain Poetry Award in 1983; the CBC Literary Competition, for short story, in 1983; and the Du Maurier Awards, gold and silver for poetry, in 1983.

Her writing has been translated into many languages including Chinese, French, German, and Italian.

Rosemary Sullivan published a biography of MacEwen, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, in 1995, which itself won the Governor General's Award, for non-fiction, in 1995.

In popular culture

Fictional tributes to MacEwen have been published by Margaret Atwood (the short story "Isis in Darkness"), and Lorne S. Jones (the novel Mighty Oaks).

A 1-woman play by Linda Griffiths, Alien Creature: A visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen, won the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Chalmers Award in 2000.

Gwendolyn MacEwen Park

Gwendolyn MacEwen Park
Location	Walmer Rd at Lowther Ave, Toronto
Operated by	Toronto Parks

The former Walmer Road Park, in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, was renamed Gwendolyn MacEwen Park in her honor in 1994.

On September 9, 2006, a bronze bust of MacEwen by her friend, sculptor John McCombe Reynolds, was unveiled in the park.

The park had been a grassy traffic circle in the middle of Walmer Road at Lowther Avenue, but a $300,000 makeover in 2010, expanded the park and narrowed the surrounding roads. The unique redesigned greenspace reopened on July 21, 2010; writer Claudia Dey read one of MacEwen's poems.

Publications

Poetry

• Selah. Toronto: Aleph Press, 1961.
• The Drunken Clock. Toronto: Aleph Press, 1961.
• The Rising Fire. Toronto: Contact Press, 1963.
• A Breakfast for Barbarians. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
• The Shadowmaker. Toronto: Macmillan, 1969.
• The Armies of the Moon . Toronto: Macmillan, 1972.
• Magic Animals: Selected poems old and new. Toronto: Macmillan, 1974
  • also published as Magic Animals: Selected poetry. Don Mills, ON: Stoddart, 1984.
• The Fire-Eaters. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1976.
• The T.E. Lawrence Poems. Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1982.
• Earth-Light: Selected poetry, 1963-1982. Toronto: General Publishing, 1982.
• The Man with Three Violins. Toronto: HMS Press, 1986.
• Afterworlds. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1987.

Posthumous

• Gwendolyn MacEwen, Volume one: The early years (edited by Margaret Atwood & Barry Callaghan). Toronto: Exile Editions, 1993.
• Gwendolyn MacEwen, Volume two: The later years (edited by Margaret Atwood & Barry Callaghan). Toronto: Exile Editions, 1993.
• The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen (edited by Margaret Atwood). London: Virago, 1996.

Play

• Terror and Erebus: A half hour verse play. Toronto: privately published, 1965.

Novels

• Julian the Magician. Toronto: Macmillan, 1963; New York: Corinth, 1963; Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2004.
• King of Egypt, King of Dreams. Toronto: Macmillan, 1971; Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2004.
• Noman. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1972.

Short fiction

• Noman's Land: Stories. Toronto: Coach House, 1985.

Non-fiction

• Mermaids and Ikons: A Greek summer. Toronto: Anansi, 1978.

Juvenile

• The Chocolate Moose (illustrated by Barry Zaid). Toronto: New Canada Press, 1979.
• The Honey Drum: Seven tales from Arab lands. Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1983.
• Dragon Sandwiches (illustrated by Maureen Paxton). Windsor, ON: Black Moss Press, 1987.

Translated

• Euripides, The Trojan Women: A play. Toronto: Playwrights Group, 1981.
• Aristophanes. The Birds: A modern adaptation. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1983.

Collected editions

• The Selected Gwendolyn MacEwen (edited by Meaghan Strimas). Holstein, ON: Exile Editions, 2007.

Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy of Brock University.

Audio / video

Poem - by Gwendolyn MacEwen

Dark Pines Under Water - by Gwendolyn MacEwen

A Breakfast for Barbarians - by Gwendolyn MacEwen

Compass - by Gwendolyn MacEwen

• Open Secret (LP). CBC Learning Systems, 1972.
• Terror and Erebus: A verse play (LP). Radio Canada International, [197-?]
• Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD Canadian Poetry Association — 2001 ISBN 1-55253-032-9 (CD#3) (with Raymond Souster)

See also

• List of Canadian poets
• Timeline of Canadian poetry

References

• Atwood, Margaret. 'MacEwen's Muse.' Canadian Literature 45 (1970): 24-32.
• Barrett, Elizabeth. 'A Tour de Force.' Evidence 8 (1964): 140-143.
• Jan Bartley. Invocations: the poetry and prose of Gwendolyn MacEwen. 1983)
• Davey, Frank. 'Gwendolyn MacEwen: The Secret of Alchemy.' Open Letter (2nd series) 4 (1973): 5-23.
• Di Michele, Mary. 'Gwendolyn MacEwen: 1941-1987.' Books in Canada 17.1 (1988): 6.
• Gerry, Thomas M. 'Green Yet Free of Seasons: Gwendolyn MacEwen and the Mystical Tradition of Canadian Poetry.' Studies in Canadian Literature 16.2 (1991/1992): 147-161.
• Gillam, Robyn. 'The Gaze of a Stranger: Gwendolyn MacEwen's Hieratic Eye.' Paragraph 13.2 (1991): 10-13.
• Godfrey, Dave. 'Figments of a Northern Mind.' Tamarack Review 31 (1964): 90-91.
• Harding Russell, Gillian. 'Gwendolyn MacEwen's 'The Nine Arcana of the Kings' as Creative Myth and Paradigm.' English Studies in Canada 15.2 (1988): 204-217.
• Harding Russell, Gillian. 'Iconic Mythopoeia in MacEwen's The T.E. Lawrence Poems.' Studies in Canadian Literature 9.1 (1984): 95-107.
• Helwig, Maggie. 'The Shadowmaker Confirmed the Poet in Me.' Catholic New Times 21.19 (1997): 13,14.
• Kelly, M.T. 'Thoughts From a Friend (Profile of Gwendolyn MacEwen).' Canadian Woman Studies 9.2 (1988): 89.
• Kemp, Penn. 'A Musing I Would Like to have Shared with Gwendolyn MacEwen'. Tessera 5 (1988): 49-57.
• 'MacEwen Possessed a Talent that was Fragile, Precocious.' Globe and Mail (Metro Edition) 2 Dec 1987: A10, C5.
• Marshall, Joyce. 'Remembering Gwendolyn MacEwen.' Brick 45 (1993): 61-65.
• Marshall, Tom. 'Several Takes on Gwendolyn MacEwen.' Quarry 38.1 (1989): 76-83.
• 'Obituary: Author.- Gwendolyn MacEwen. Quill and Quire 54.3 (1988): 62.
• Potvin, Elisabeth. 'Gwendolyn MacEwen and Female Spiritual Desire.' Canadian Poetry 28 (1991): 18-39.
• Purdy, Al. 'œDeath in the Family.' Saturday Night 103.5 (1988): 65-66.
• Ringrose, Christopher. 'Vision Enveloped in Night.' Canadian Literature 53 (1972): 102-104.
• Sowton, Ian. 'To Improvise an Eden.' Edge 2 (1964): 119-124.
• Rosemary Sullivan. Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1995.
• Tsingos, Nikolas. 'Poems for Gwendolyn MacEwen.' Descant 24.4 (1993/ 1994): 41.
• Warwick, Ellen D. 'To Seek a Single Symmetry.' Canadian Literature 71 (1976): 21-34.
• Wilkinson, Shelagh. 'Gwendolyn MacEwen's Trojan Women: Old Myth into New Life.' Canadian Woman Studies 8.3 (1987): 81-83.
• Wood, Brent. 'From The Rising Fire to Afterworlds: The Visionary Circle in the Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen.' Canadian Poetry 47 (2000): 40-69.

External links

Poems

• Judith Fitzgerald, "Dark Pines Under Water" by Gwendolyn MacEwen
• MacEwen, Gwendolyn (1941-1987) ("Letter to a Future Generation") at Representative Poetry Online
• Canadian Poetry Online: Gwendolyn MacEwen - Biography & 7 poems (Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear, Fragments from A Childhood, Magic Cats, Poems in Braille, Memoirs of a Mad Cook, The Drunken Clock, Dark Pines Under Water)

Audio / video

• Gwendolyn MacEwen at YouTube

Books

• Gwendolyn MacEwen at Amazon.ca
• Gwendolyn MacEwen at Amazon.com]

About

• Gwendolyn MacEwen in the Canadian Encyclopedia
• Gwendolyn MacEwen at NNDB
• Catherine Joyce (December 2007). "Catherine Joyce on Gwendolyn MacEwen's 'A Breakfast for Barbarians'". ARC Poetry Magazine. http://www.arcpoetry.ca/2007/12/03/catherine-joyce-on-gwendolyn-macewens-a-breakfast-for-barbarians/. 
• Barbara Myers (December 2004). "Barbara Myers on Gwendolyn MacEwen's 'Dark Pines Under Water'". ARC Poetry Magazine. http://www.arcpoetry.ca/2004/12/01/barbara-myers-on-gwendolyn-macewens-dark-pines-under-water/. 
• Barbara Myers (November 2004). "Barbara Myers on Gwendolyn MacEwen's 'The Mirage'". ARC Poetry Magazine. http://www.arcpoetry.ca/2004/11/01/barbara-myers-on-gwendolyn-macewens-the-mirage/. 
• "Canada's Most Memorable Poems, Nominations, Dark Pines Under Water". Literary Review of Canada. May 2008. http://reviewcanada.ca/reviews/2008/05/01/canada-s-most-memorable-poems-the-lrc-contributors-list---part-2/. 

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