Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada

by Anne Compton (Editor), Laurence Hutchman (Editor), Ross Leckie (Editor)

Atlantic Canada is enjoying a renaissance unknown since the days of Alden Nowlan, Milton Acorn, and John Thompson. Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada features work by 60 of the region's finest poets in a volume that will whet appetites for more. The earlier poetry renaissance began in 1945, with the establishment of The Fiddlehead magazine. In this new volume, the present Fiddlehead editor Ross Leckie, and his collaborators Ann Compton, Laurence Hutchman, and Robin McGrath, showcase the lasting effects of that earlier renaissance and confidently forecast that the newest generation of Atlantic poets will help to make poetry a pre-eminent literary form in Canada once again.

Coastlines provides expansive reading pleasure because of the astonishing range of poetic intelligences it represents and the myriad ways poets find to work and rework the topography of Atlantic culture and landscape. The earliest poems in the anthology were written in the 1950s by the acknowledged greats -- Acorn, Nowlan, and Thompson -- and by Alfred Bailey, Elizabeth Bishop, and Charles Bruce. The collection also features work by senior poets such as Kay Smith, M. Travis Lane, Fred Cogswell, and Douglas Lochhead, and mid-career poets such as Elisabeth Harvor, Harry Thurston, and John Steffler. Poets of the post-1995 renaissance include Anne Simpson, Sue Sinclair, Michael Crummey, and George Elliott Clarke, who won the 2001 Governor General's Award; Lynn Davies, Sue Goyette, and Carole Langille have all been recent finalists, and both Brian Bartlett and matt robinson have won the Petra Kenney Memorial International Poetry Prize. The newest voices in Coastlines belong to Tammy Armstrong and Geoff Cook, whose work was selected from manuscripts published in 2002.

Genres: Poetry

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Anne Compton (born 1947) is a Canadian poet, critic, and anthologist.

Compton was born and raised in the farming community of Bangor, Prince Edward Island. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Prince Edward Island, her Masters from York University and finally her PhD from the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Compton is currently an assistant professor and Writer-in-Residence in UNB Saint John’s Department of Humanities and Languages, she teaches literature and creative writing and is also the Director of the Lorenzo Reading Series at the University of New Brunswick, and serves on the New Brunswick Arts Board.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[darce vader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a great representation of writers from the Atlantic region. However, my rating reflects the lack of connection I felt to most of the poems.