Mary, Queen of the World

Montreal is Ville Marie, the city of Mary; here are some photographs celebrating Mary taken within walking distance of my home. By the way, we live in the neighbourhood of Notre Dame de Grace, Our Lady of Grace. 

Statue of Mary on the psychology building at the Loyola campus of Concordia University.

Detail of  above.

Just a hundred feel from the psychology building you'll find this statue of Mary. 

Shrine to Mary on the Loyola Campus of Concordia University.

Shrine to Mary on the Loyola Campus of Concordia University (summer).

The following (above and below) are outside people's homes within walking distance of where I live.

Statue of Mary on north side of Cote St-Luc Road just above Decarie Boulevard, near the Villa Maria (a private school).

Procession for the Assumption of Mary, August 2018, on Coronation Avenue going to Ste-Catherine of Sienne Church on Somerled. (Photo two below)

Here is St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal.

This is Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, located in downtown Montreal; originally named St. James Cathedral when it was completed in 1894, this is the third largest church in Quebec. It was renamed Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in 1955.

Night scene. 

A.J.M. Smith of Chesterfield Avenue, Westmount

Poems, which are the spiritual blood of a poet,

Renew themselves in an eternal April,

And renew us also who take them into ourselves.

Thus the poet becomes as one of the gods

And in the church of the poem we communicate.

                            —A.J.M Smith, "In Memoriam: E.J.P. 26 April 1964"

                            Poems, New & Collected, p. 142

1.

I've been thinking about A.J.M. Smith's poetry lately, longer than "lately", maybe a few years and I'm still divided re. if I like it or not. Smith grew up on Chesterfield Avenue in Westmount and my friend Paul Leblond also grew up on Chesterfield, across the street from Smith, but that was thirty years later (long after Smith had moved down to the States). This reminds me that Paul's father, Dr. C.P. Leblond, who was head of the anatomy department at McGill, was famous for his discovery of stem cells. Up to a few years ago if you had a doctor educated at McGill they would have been at one time a student of Dr. C.P. Leblond. He didn't retire from McGill until the early 2000s and I remember Paul telling me of his visits, as a child, to his father's office in the Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building. His office was two stories and had previously been the office of Dr. Hans Selye, famous for his studies of stress and distress. In 1943 Dr. Selye had commissioned Marian Dale Scott to paint a mural in his office and a few years after that this became Dr. Leblond's office. The mural is entitled "Endocrinology" and is 12' by 16', enormous. At any rate, as we all know, Marian Dale Scott's husband, F.R. Scott was good friends with A.J.M. Smith from the mid-1920s and they formed the Montreal Group of poets who brought modern poetry to Canada.

2.

If I read someone I like, or someone who interests me, then I'll read everything they've written including whatever has been written about them. A.J.M. Smith's Poems, New & Collected (1967) is probably the first book of poems that I ever bought; I still have reservations about his work but (as we say) such is life. It's difficult to find much on Smith's life, for instance did he have any siblings? Maybe this shouldn't matter but I am a nosy Parker, literally since my mother was a Parker, and I have a lot of the old Irish police detective in me that likes to figure things out. Years ago I found a copy of Smith's anthology (he is an excellent anthologist) Seven Centuries of Verse, English and American, From the Early Lyrics to the Present Day (1947). The book's inscription suggests that Smith had at least one possible sister, Dorothy Brown, and that she lived in or near Huntingdon, QC. Maybe this is common knowledge but it was new to me. Smith is pretty closed mouth about his personal life. The Huntingdon High School is now a grade school and where my grandsons are students. Another anthology edited by Smith, this time with M.L Rosenthal of NYU, is Exploring Poetry (1955). If every home should have several good poetry anthologies (which I believe) then these two would fit the bill. Smith and Rosenthal are from a time when poetry really mattered, they aren't writing out of an ideology or an attempt to exploit something that is timeless, they are writing out of love for poetry. For this reason alone I'll continue reading Smith's poems and when I find something by Rosenthal I'll buy it and discuss it here.

3.

I had forgotten about English Poetry in Quebec (McGill University Press, 1965) which I read in high school. The idea for the Foster (Quebec) Poetry Conference originated with A.J.M, Smith and Frank Scott and was organized by John Glassco (who also edited the proceedings, as pictured). It's interesting that the idea for this conference came from three members of the Montreal Group of Poets, they helped bring Modern poetry to Canada back in the 1920s; this ongoing involvement in poetry also emphasizes their literary importance. It's interesting that the Foster Poetry Conference was held in October 1963, just two months after the Vancouver Poetry Conference held at UBC; for different reasons both poetry conferences are important in Canadian literary history and it might be worthwhile to discuss these events together. These older Quebec poets were not stodgy old men, they believed in the importance of poetry; this is especially true in the essays by Smith and Layton, both of whom have a passion, urgency, and intelligence in their discussion of poetry. For background information on the conference read Brian Busby's excellent biography of John Glassco, A Gentleman of Pleasure: One Life of John Glassco, Poet, Memoirist, Translator, and Pornographer (2011), it's one of the best literary biographies that I've read. 

4. 

I write the date inside the book that I am reading and I see that I read A.J.M. Smith's On Poetry and Poets (NCL, 1977) in July 1980. The whole book is a fascinating discussion of Canadian poetry. In some ways it reminds me of John Sutherland's Essays, Controversies and Poems (NCL, 1972) but also of Louis Dudek's book reviews, criticism, and commentaries on poetry. In Smith's book there are two essays that need to be mentioned; the first is "The Confessions of a Compulsive Anthologist" written in 1976; this is about as autobiographical as you'll get from A.J.M. Smith and you can see his passion for poetry was present even when he was a high school student reading a poetry anthology under his desk. The second essay was given at the Foster Poetry Conference, it is "The Poet and the Nuclear Crisis" (1965). He concludes this essay by writing "it is the arts and the humanities, and particularly poetry, the most humane of all the arts, that can offer that education in sensibility and virtue that we must submit to if we are to live." That's the kind of passionate statement that leads me to read more of Smith's writing. In fact, passion is something we don't talk about these days, maybe passion sounds naïve and if so, then we need more passion among our poets. So, let's talk about something that people don't talk about anymore and that is passion, and passion includes enthusiasm and a sense of urgency regarding the importance of poetry. It is passion in a poet's work that changes people, it makes the reader realize he or she is in the presence of something greater than what is normally experienced. When I was seventeen years old and an apprentice poet I read Allen Ginsberg's statement that poets should "Scribble down your nakedness. Be prepared to stand naked because most often it is this nakedness of the soul that the reader finds most interesting."  With this one statement Ginsberg changed my life. Where are the poets of passion today? There are no Earle Birneys, no Al Purdys or Dorothy Livesays, no Alden Nowlans or Gwendolyn McEwens. Where are the poets who change the reader's life because that is what real poetry does, it changes one's life. Our most passionate poet, Irving Layton, has become a solitary historical figure, a voice that is no longer listened to.  Smith's passion makes his poetry and criticism worth returning to and reading.

NOTE: The conclusion of this was published on this blog in July 2019 under the title "A Reappraisal of A.J.M. Smith". 

Walking to Meadowbrook Golf Course

I've never golfed but I always enjoy this walk to Meadowbrook Golf Course. 

February

February

March

March

April

June

July

July

September

November

November

November

An Inventory of Trees

Out most mornings for a walk, I noticed these trees about five years ago. Then I began photographing them, they were too interesting not to photograph. They are located on the corner of Brock North and Fielding Avenue. Here is a selection of my photographic inventory of trees.

November 2014

November 2014

November 2014

November 2014

May 2018

May 2018

March

March

March

January

Mid-November

Mid-November

Review of Janet O. Dallett's The Not-Yet-Transformed God.

Review of Janet O. Dallett's The Not-Yet-Transformed God. 

Nicolas-Hays, Inc. 1998. 

146 pages. 

By Stephen Morrissey

After hearing Janet Dallett speak before an audience of the C.G. Jung Society of Montreal last November 2001, I knew that this was an author and lecturer whose books would be important for me. Dallett's The Not-Yet-Transformed God is both engaging and moving. Indeed, as with the work of some other Jungian writers, the experience of reading Dallett's work is that it becomes a part of the reader's personal meditation, a part of the reader's life. Written from the urgency of personal insight and experience, Janet Dallett's The Not-Yet-Transformed God offers a perceptive insight into "depth psychology and the religious experience," which is the sub-title of her book.

Dallett begins with C.G. Jung's observation that "every patient over the age of 35 who had come to him for help during the preceding thirty years was suffering from a religious problem." Framing the psychological need for help as a religious problem immediately changes it; we are not then dealing with pathology but with the need for a religious perception that may transform the individual. Dallett suggests that we begin by examining what we find "numinous." Indeed, what we find numinous is an opening or a gateway into the psyche and self-understanding. She writes, "If you want to know what is numinous to you, consider what you find fascinating, compelling, thrilling, mysterious, horrifying, gripping, tremendous, terrifying, dreadful, or awesome. Think about the things with which you are preoccupied in spite of yourself."

An example of numinosity Dallett refers to is the death of Princess Diana. Many of us who previously had no interest in Princess Diana were so deeply moved by her death and funeral that we wept as though a much loved friend or family member had died. The extent of our grief suggests that something more was happening than the death of a priveleged young woman thousands of miles away. Dallett writes, "As I see it, the former princess was destroyed by the dark side of the spirit, which she let out of the bottle by leaving the royal family and setting out to live an individual life." Dallett offers a fascinating discussion of the phenomenon of Princess Diana, but since the writing of Dallett's book the horrendous events of September 11th must also be included, not only as a tragedy but also as a significant numinious experience for many people. Dallett writes that "the energy of divinity is rarely where we expect it to be." We are like Jacob in Gauguin's painting "The Vision after the Sermon" reproduced on the cover of Dallett's book. We struggle in darkness with events that seem to overwhelm us, but like Jacob, when we finally become more conscious, we discover that it is the angel or the numinous with which we are wrestling.

What is 'the not-yet-transformed God'? Dallett writes, "When he (Jung) refers to God...he means the image of God in the psyche, which at other times he calls the Self." She explains the Self more fully; Jung, she writes, "speaks of it paradoxically as both the center and the circumference of the total personality, including both conscious and unconscious aspects. The Self is an archetype that carries the numinosity of the image of God. It is often used as a synonym for the God within." When Dallett writes about God, she is always, "strictly speaking, referring to the image of God in the psyche" and "does not in any way preclude the existence of a God outside the psyche."

At some point in our lives many of us are called to reflect on the inner life, to begin the process of individuation. Dallett writes, "the instinct to individuate often appears first in a negative form: life-threatening illness, severe depression, an extramarital affair, a psychotic episode." Individuation is not only self-transformation, it is also the transformation of our concept and experience of the divine. Dallett discusses Jung's "description of historical changes in the Western God-image", moving from how "Yahweh displaced the ancient nature gods and goddesses" and later the God-image changed again by incarnating in Christ. Dallett writes, "Today, says Jung, the incarnation wants to take place in many people through the process of individuation."

In the final chapters of The Not-Yet-Transformed God Dallett gives the reader some insight into how the process of individuation takes place. She writes, "the process of individuation entails the gradual discovery, through trial and error, of exactly how much and what kind of power rightfully belongs to a particular individual, in the course of which the unconscious God-image inside becomes conscious and is tempered until it can be lived in a mature and responsible way." Helping the individual with the "gradual discovery" of the Self are Jung's important concepts of the Shadow, the complementarity of opposites, and so on. These concepts form the foundation of Dallett's discussion of individuation and it is always rewarding to hear Jung's key concepts discussed from a different author's perspective.

Janet Dallett's The Not-Yet-Transformed God is a significant book. In light of the events of September 11 we ask: How are we to live? What are we to do? Many of us can still turn for comfort to the old image of the divine, but we know that we must also look within ourselves, that we can change in a fundamental way, that we can become conscious individuals. The alternative is that "everything suppressed, repressed, denied, or simply unseen in a person will eventually come out." Dallett writes: "By carrying my portion of untransformed God-energy consciously, I believe that I remove it from the general supply, thereby reducing the collective pressure toward war, terrorism, mass murder and other out-of-control forms of violence." Every age is important, but each age feels that the urgency of change is now more pressing than any preceding it. We feel traumatized since September 11, and it is the duty of all people of good will to begin or continue the important work of individuation. The alternative, unfortunately, is a future of conflict, turmoil, and suffering.

Published: The C.G. Jung Society of Montreal Newsletter, March 2002.

A Tribute to Louis Dudek

Note: This is the text of my speech prepared for the Louis Dudek Tribute held in the Writers' Chapel at St. Jax Church, 1439 Sainte-Catherine Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1S6, on 12 October 2018.

Louis Dudek was one of the most generous people I have known; his generosity touched many people in significant ways. For me, he wrote an introduction to my first book of poems; because of his letters of reference I was awarded several Canada Council writing grants and I was hired to teach English literature at Champlain Regional College where I taught for 35 years; but the most important gift was his generous spirit, that he gave freely of himself. He was a wonderful person, a friend, a teacher, and a mentor, and we all miss him. I enrolled as a graduate student at McGill University in 1974 because I wanted to study with Louis Dudek and it was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. This evening we honour Louis, one of our greatest poets, he enriched many people's lives, my own included.

          I must tell you of a meeting I had with Dudek on March 10, 1975 because it is still important to me. At this meeting in his office he read some of my poems which he liked very much. There is no time to go in to the details of the meeting but Louis gave me something that afternoon that only an older poet can give to a younger poet; I was 24 years old at the time, and what he gave me was confirmation that I was a poet. I left that meeting feeling that I had nothing to worry about, just keep writing and life as a poet would unfold. And that's what I did. The day on which that meeting took place becomes more poignant for me, my father died in 1956 and March 10th was his birthday.

          Another event—it was the afternoon of January 9, 1979—I was with Louis Dudek and Lionel Kearns, who named his son "Louis" after Louis Dudek. We had something to eat at a food court after Lionel’s reading. My then wife was pregnant but was not expecting to give birth for another four weeks. This was the one time I went off by myself, other than going to work, while my wife was pregnant. I arrived home around 5 p.m., the flat on Northcliffe Avenue was in darkness, and I found an almost illegible note scribbled by my mother-in-law telling me to go to the hospital, my son had been born prematurely. This is where I was when my son was born, not in the birthing room at a major hospital, but with Louis Dudek and Lionel Kearns talking about poetry in a food court in downtown Montreal. Life can be very strange.

          Think of Louis' contribution to Canadian poetry. On my book shelf I have almost forty books either written by Louis or about his writing. His books have been an inspiration to many people, they communicate an infectious love for poetry. There are several selected poems; books of his criticism and book reviews; his thoughts on poetry; his epigrams; his 1941 diary; a book on philosophy and another on the mass media; also, several anthologies of poetry that he edited, one that was widely used as a college text book and another one co-edited with Irving Layton; and a collection of texts and essays that he edited with Michael Gnarowski; a book on  "CIV/n", a literary magazine edited by his future wife, Aileen Collins, in the 1950s; also his 1967 "First Person in Literature" talks that were broadcast on CBC radio's "Ideas" programme; and don't forget his book of letters from his friend Ezra Pound. There is also Frank Davey's book on the poetry of Louis Dudek and Raymond Souster; special issues of at least two periodicals dedicated to his work; Robin Blaser's excellent selection of Dudek's poetry; a book remembering and honouring Louis, Eternal Conversation; and Susan Stromberg-Steins' biography of Louis Dudek. Susan and I were in Dudek's graduate seminar in the fall-winter semester, 1974-75. He was certainly the best and most influential teacher I ever had; I learned so much from being Dudek's student and friend, things he said to me decades ago are still remembered today.  

          Dudek is a poet whose major work, Continuation, a long poem that he worked on for over forty years, will one day be better recognized for its importance. Dudek began writing Continuation when he was 49 years old, a month later he turned fifty; however, the concept for how to write the poem was discovered by Dudek in 1956, when he was only thirty-eight years old. Dudek tells us that he could only write Continuation after he discovered his authentic voice, one that was a memory of his thought processes when he was a child. With this in mind, Continuation is Dudek’s life-long work. The theme of Continuation is poetry, what it means, its importance, and the poet's dedication to his work; indeed, poetry is Dudek's religion. When he championed Ezra Pound, and he told me he never convinced anyone to like Pound's Cantos, what he really championed was great poetry.

          I remember Louis showing me the manuscript of his Epigrams before it was published, typed on onion skin paper, in his office at McGill. The key to Continuation, and the foundation on which the poem is written, are Dudek's epigrams. Dudek writes, “Epigrams are one-line poems. A lot of them together are like a long poem” (Dudek, 1975, p. 38). That “long poem” is Continuation. Another key to Continuation is Dudek's admiration for Henry Miller; Louis' ideal for his own poetry is to write in the conversational style of Henry Miller but always maintaining the critical faculty of Matthew Arnold. In Continuation Dudek is able to combine what he learned from Miller and Arnold in order to communicate his poetic vision.

          Louis Dudek devoted his life to writing poems, to the literary community, to teaching, and to his family and friends. I am grateful for having known him, he changed my life for the better and what greater praise can be given to a fellow human than that they changed your life, they made it better, they helped you fulfill your promise and destiny? It is an honour to have known Louis Dudek and to have contributed this evening to this Dudek Tribute.

-- Stephen Morrissey