The Wind Has Wings: Poems from Canada

by Mary Alice Downie (Editor)

Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

So yes, I very quickly and only rather cursively skimmed through and over Mary Alice Downie’s (who is chief editor) 1968 anthology The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada (on Open Library). And I do have to say that with regard to the book’s general contents and the scope of the included verses, I am pretty much rather majorly disappointed and frustrated with The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada.

For even though I have certainly enjoyed a goodly number of the Canada themed and situated poetry examples, the selections encountered in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada (in particular those depicting and expanding on scenarios of ice, snow, the seasons), do much appreciate the inclusion of anonymous folksongs like Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor and Donkey Riding and that Robert Service’s The Shooting of Dan McGrew equally makes an appearance (although personally, I do find his, I do think that Robert Service’s The Cremation of Sam McGee is both more humorous and much more interesting), there are in my humble opinion some quite massive issues with regard to whom Mary Alice Downie has chosen to not include, whom she has chosen to ignore as far as poets and their poetry go in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada.

I mean, why if in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada, Mary Alice Downie presents poetry by Dorothy Livesay, Earl Birney and Irving Layton, she then does not even remotely consider Lucy Maud Montgomery’s or Margaret Atwood’s lyrical output? But even more problematically, why are French Canadian wordsmiths, why is the poetry of say Emile Nelligan and singer/songwriter Gilles Vigneault so completely and utterly ignored in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada? And yes indeed, even though the poems I have actively read in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada, I have also found for the most part readable and sometimes even quite wonderfully delightful, I really cannot consider more than two stars here, since well, Mary Alice Downie’s decision not to include verses by L.M. Montgomery and Margaret Atwood does really quite bother me, and that there are no French Canadian poets (and no French language verses) at all to be found in The Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada, I do personally find this completely unacceptable and a huge denigrating insult to both Les Québécois and Les Acadians.

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been in the Rutland Free Library since 1969 and it is still a treasure. The different types of illustrations that accompany some of the poetry give it a dual purpose for learners. There are many poems that cover a range of types. The book is arranged by poets, so it could be used as a poet study. A great read!

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/4 stars