Reproduction of the original: Hesperus and Other Poems and Lyrics by Charles Sangster

This volume established Isabella Valancy Crawford as one of Canada's principal poets. Coupled with an introductory collage of viewpoints and reactions to her work by James Reaney its provides a vivid glimpse into the literary past of this country. Although her poetry reflects the patterns of her time, Isabella Valancy Crawford was able to accept the raw and vigorous Canadian landscape on its own terms. She was the first of our poets for whom it became the setting for struggle, passion, love, and death. She celebrated the young land with an imagery enriched by allusions to North American Indian lore reflected in such lines as these: From his far wigwam sprang the strong North Wind And rushed with war-cry down the steep ravine, And wrestled with the giants of the woods; And with his ice-club beat the swelling crests Of the deep water courses into death. 'These verses bear the stamp of genius and show a true poetic instinct,' said a critic in The Canadian Magazine in 1895. The poetry of Isabella Valancy Crawford forms a vital part of the body of Canadian writing.

This book explores the Gothic tradition in Canadian literature by tracing a distinctive reworking of the British Gothic in Canada. It traces the ways the Gothic genre was reinvented for a specifically Canadian context. On the one hand, Canadian writers expressed anxiety about the applicability of the British Gothic tradition to the colonies; on the other, they turned to the Gothic for its vitalising rather than unsettling potential. After charting this history of Gothic infusion, Canadian Gothic turns its attention to the body of Aboriginal and diasporic writings that respond to this discourse of national self-invention from a post-colonial perspective. These counter-narratives unsettle the naturalising force of this invented history, rendering the sense of Gothic comfort newly strange. The Canadian Gothic tradition has thus been a conflicted one, which reimagines the Gothic as a form of cultural sustenance. This volume offers an important reconsideration of the Gothic legacy in Canada.

William Wye Smith, Upper Canadian poet and publisher, provided his unique perspective on pioneer life in this compilation of anecdotes from his experiences.