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EMILE CODERRE, RAYMOND BOOSTER
• TWO POETS, TliO CULTURES
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EMILE CODERRE, RAYMOND SooSTER TWO POETS, TWO CULTURES
SIMILARITIES AND CONTRASTS
BY
A. FOURNIER-OUELLET DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, M.A.
Emile Coderre and Raymond Souster are Canadian poets of different
ethnie origine - Quebec French and Toronto English - which accounte for
their distinct poetic expressions. The prfsentation of the two authors \,
in their social , cultural and hietorical backgrounds offera a valuable
Btudy in contrast from Canada'e t'lia principal cultures_ They are botJl }~~
cl ty poets and "poets of the people" but vi th many differences betwe~, _.
them. Souster news the city vith mixed feelings of love and ~te;----~-..... :.. ...........
Caderre, vi th apprehension and a desire to escape. They both champion
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the "little people": Souster drawing a vider asaortment of human rlgnettes ,
than Caderre doea who preoccupies himself almoet exclusively vith the
"gueux" and the unemployed victimized of the System. Coderre' s man in
the city considere Nature as a haven whole Souster Bees 1t as a psycholo-
gical and physical balancing influence on his man in the city. Both #
reveal their origine Most
old age and death. Where
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Souster dread.l!S old age and death as a "déchéan-
ce", Caderre almost welcomes them as a release of the sou! tovards a
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better life. {,Both are rel:LgioUB men: though Coderre is intense in the
observance and practice of rites and Souster purposely oblivioUB of
rituala. Ne7ertheless, Souster is the more deeply Christian of the two.
other differencea and aimilarities keep appearing intermittently in
their work because of their individual culture and background. 1\
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EMILE CODERRE, RAYMOND SOUSTER TWO POETS, 'l'\;IO CULTURES
SIMILAIU'l'IES AND CONTRASTS
BY
A. FOURNIER-OUELLET ENGLISH DEP ARTMENT
MASTER OF ARTS /
Les deux poètes canadiens, Emile Coderre et Raymond Souster, ont
des origine& ethniques différentes - française du Québec et anglaise
de Toronto - ce qui explique leurs distl.nchons poétiques. La prés en-
tation de ces deux auteurs dans leur contexte social, culture~ et his~
totique met en relief d'intéressants contrastes inhérents aux deux
principales cultures du Canada. Bien qu'ils soient tous deux poètes
de la vllle et "poètes populistes", ils ont souvent des conceptions
différentes des hommes et de la vie. Par exemple, Souster envisage
1 la ville avec des Rcntimento mê1és d'amour et ~e haine; Coderre la
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voi t avec ongoiGse et ressent une grande envie d' Y échapper.! Les deux (/
poètes se veulent les défenseuro den "gens ordinaires", Souster étant
plus prolifique dans le nombre de vignettes humaines qu'il dessine
que Coderre qui accorde son attention presqu'exclusivement au gueux
et nu sans-travail, victimes ,du Système. AWlSi, le citadin de cPoderre
trouve dans la nature un oasis de sécurité, tandis que le citadin
de Souster y trouve plutôt un équilibre psychologique et physique.
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Cependant, c'est dans leurs idées sur la religion, la vieillesse et
la mort que leldeux hommes laissent percer leurs origines le plus
sûrement. SoJster redoute la déchéance de la vieillesse et de la
mort; Coderre l'acclame presque comme l'annonce de la délivrance de '
l'âme versfUne vie meilleure. Nous pouvons dire que les deux_poètes ,
sont des ~ommes "religi eux", quoique Cod erre soi ~ plus sérieux dans
la prati~ue religieuse que Souster qui en oublie intentionnellement
les rites. Cependant, il nous apparaît que Souster est quand même 1
- " le plus profondément chrétien des deux. On rencontre ça et là dana
leur oeuv~e, des èail1ies tantôt différentes, tantôt semblables, sus-1
citées pa~leur éducation propre et leur milieu particulier. ,;
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McGILL UNIVERSITY
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EMILE CODERRE, RAIMOND SooSTER: TWO POETS, TWO CULTURF.S
SIMILARITIFS AND CONTRASTS
BI
A. ~-OUELLET DEPARTMnr.r -OF ENGLISH
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S.pt~.r 1973
@ 'A. Fournier-OUlllet
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ACKNOWLEDGEHENT
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Thia theais vas done under the guidance 'of
Professor Louia Dudek, MeGill University_ ...---u-
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" TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l
CHAPTER I: EMILE CODERRE AND RAYMOND SOUSTER: POETS REFLECTING TWO CULTURES - • . . ~ 6
\) ':J CHAPTER II: STYLE AND LANGUAGE • . . ... 27
CHAPTER III: THE CITY AS llABITAT OF MAN, VIGNETTES OF MANKIND, NATURE AS HAVEN OR EQUILIBRIUM • • • • • • ... 45
CH.APl!ER IV: ATTITUDES TOWARDS RELIGION AND MORALITY, CONSIDERATIONS ON OLD AGE AND DEATH ••••
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CONCLUSION. • • • • • • • • • .. • • • • ~.f • • • • • • • • • • •• 123
BIBLlOOR.APH!' .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • o. • • • • • • • •• 126
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INTRODUCTION
Comparative Literature_~ a great many facets, some of wider scope . , than others. In this paper l intend to confine my study to comp~i.ng two
authora: Emile Coderre, a Montreal poet and Raymond Souster, â Toronto
poet. This will concern a small area in the vast Canadtan li terary pano-l,
rama, :ret it will be a representative compariaon that will touch on some
of the central issues of Canadian life.
Before looking at the work of these two Canadian authors, ve must
note that two totally different cultures fostered them, providing ua vith
a comparative study aB clearly as if the poet13 originated from two different
countries. This fact of the two cultures of Canada is recognized with envy ,.
by Many unilingual and unicul tural c ount ries •
A study of our case should prove revealing and rewa.rqi.ng for compara-
tive study, first for the research scholar himself, and second for the
, Ù
promoter of better understanding between the two fonnding races in Canada. o
l have directed ury choice to poetry rather than to prose, since l believe
it to be the art form that mirrors Most perfectly the culture of the people
within its proytnce.
The comparative study of li terature is a relati vely new discipline
in our country; authors, criticB 8I1d graduate students seem to abJ' a~
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"-from it. Could it be that the extensive acope of acholal:'ahip and reaearch
required, and the dread of treading on unfamiliar, danger~s ground, are , '
reaponsible for auch a heaitant approach to it? Neverthe~eaa,
it ia astoniahing to find the preoccupation and attention with which u
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anthologiata and catalogue compilera include in their lista both French
and Engliah authoTa indiscriminately. Edmond Làreau was a pioneer in this
domain as far back as 1874 when he included in bis Histoire de la littéra-
ture canadienne de 1874 all the names of those who had ao far written
::::~1::7-::~hW::t:::l::eF::n::'::i:: :::::::~eL:~:a~C~:::::W::d French Canadian writers "side by side". More recently, J.R. Colombo and
~ 2 Jacques Godbout, brought our Poésie 1 Poetry 64 • The Brune year aaw the
publication of a-catalogue compiled by Brandon Conron, Guy Sylvestre and
. \ Carl F. Klinck containing biographical notices classified in alphabetical
order, in the language of the author under consideration, a reference book
which is extremely helpful ta "ceux qui étudieront l'une ou l'autre de nos v
littératures nationales ou les deux" 3 •
A.J.M. Smith haB offered excellent and pertinent brie! commenta on
both French and Engliah poets in bis long introduction to The Oxford Book
1 Lorne Pierce, An Outline of Canadien Literature, Toronto, 1927. Mç Camille Roy signed a letter of conçatulation ta Lorne Pierce on the tirst pues.
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2 J .R. Co-ld1Dbo.. and Jacques Godbout, poésie! Poet17 64, Montréal, 1963.
3 Brandon Conron, Guy Sylvestre et Carl F. Klinck, Canadien Writers / Ecrivains canadiens, ,Toronto, 1966, p. v.
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4 of Canadian Verse • èlément Moisan in L'âge d'or de la littérature cana-
dienn~ 5 , hss al80 achieved a g~obal SUI'lJ'y of our total li teratl"e wi th
remarkable perception. o -
. " AlI this commendable preparatory work points'the wa~ ~or more compa-
rat ive studies.
.. Newton P. Stallkneckt warns the literary world ag~nstrgivi~'.. in too
.. \..J easily ta the temptation of "playing it safe" when comparative studies are
involved. ..
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"Statemente such as: 'we must wait till all the data are in' co~d be cripplingj but all the data ~ll never be in and we know it ••• Schol~ship mUst take reasonable precautio~, but it .' should not be paralyzed "by illusionary perfectioniem ••• " 6.
tf This thesis therefore accepte the wistful challenge of-placing "side
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by aide" two cultures, and of comparing two indi vidual; poets in sOUle de-,
~ r tail. We beg to diff~r wi th Roy Daniella who said that ''French-Canadien'
culture 1a ••• ao ~ru.ly paralle~ Ota, our Olin that they can never meet" 7 Q
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4 A.J.M. Smith, The Oxford Book of Canadian Verae, Toronto, 1968, p. xxiii-li.. 5
5 \ Clément MoU. an , L'ge d'or de la littérature canadienne. Essais. Montréal, 1969, collect1&n co~. .
6 Newton P. Stallkneckt and oret rani, Comparative" Li terature; Method and Perspective, Carbonda] ~, p. 5. .
7, Roy "Danielle, Canadie.n Literature, ''Hicroco8lll of our Movin« World"; Autumn 1966, p. 64. ' ·
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We will endeavour ta pin-point and highlight, by turn, some areas of affi-
nit y and some other are as of incompatibility in the work of our two authora, <\)
and prove~that they can meet. We will also try to show that different cul-
tures' must produce aignificantly different artistic expressions of their
identity.
We are aware that the points of contact between Emile Coderre and
Ra~ond Souster will show different degrees of intensity: they are sometimes
r~h and deep, and then again, Bom:timeB fle.ting, and oven
~ "cache-cache" quali ty permeating the comparative study
downright elusive.
of two poets
accounts for the exhilaration one feels when the deep moments of frank ca-
maraderie or of est rangement between the two are re~ognized and brought to
attention. The other momentary and precar~ous instan~~'of contact dispersed
throughout their work spurs on the literary cürioeity of the researcher.
Our conscioueness of the pitfalls ahead la undisguised and \ie ask for
lenien~ ~derstanding when some shortcomings are noted in our study. We
heed ~. Stallkneckt's advice and do not wait for perfection. D
Chapter one will foeus attention on biographicàl backsT0und, definins
the human aspect of the two poets to bj.ompar~d. Then, we will swing back
in time to scan their formative years-, and will gradually come to dwell on
those yeara which impregnated ti'eir adult minds and the work achieved by
each. In cbapter two, lie will l10ser a while on the lansuage of their
poetry as vehicle for their thoughts and attitudes in seneral and for their
voxit of social pr,test in p8l'ticular.
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The city &fi habitat of man holds an irr~Bistible fascination for
ther it be the city as tyrant or the city as
mietress. In chapter three, observe vignettes of men sketched by
our tvo poets, men living and lov Vithin the malevolent or benevolent
environment of the city - men nostalgically hearkening for nature and the
country as a haven, or men accepting nature as a redeeming, balancing force _0
pre~~nt even in the city.
A final chapter will conaider the religioUB and mor~ attitudes ~f,
each man as evident in hie poetry; it viII pause and study thei: philOBOphi
cal thoughta on old age and death •
Our conclusion will BUbmit that the minds of ~e8e two poete can meet,
but that when they do thé)' are preoccupied by thinp generally Canadian and
wU.versal; and vhen they do not, the,. are essentially true to their etFc
orisins vhether French or English.
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CHAPTER l
) EMILE CODERRE AND RAYMOND SOUSTER:
POETS REFLECTING TWO CULTURES
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l - MEET EMILE CODERRE
, l DIlile Coderre vas born in Montreal on June 10, 1893 ând 1ived there
(, unti1 his death in December 1969. He va.e a Montreal man and said humoroue1y
that he sav nothin« extraordinary in the fact that he vas barn and lived in
a city rather than by the seashore.
He vrites, \..
<> ''Nd tre, ça n'a rien de bien ori«inal ni
de bien intéressant ••• surtout pour l'intéressé, . si on peut ~ireJ Naître à Montréal manque alUlBi joliment d'originalité! Songez à tous ceux qui sont nés avant lui et aprèsl' Comme dit la chanson: 'On ndt comme on n'est et comme on na1t'. Mais l'on n'a pas le choix de naitre à la ville \ plutôt qu'au bord de la 11er" 2. .
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llbat I.s ext~har:r 1. that vhen one reada or hears his poetry, one knowa
vithout a doubt that he 18 a Montreal man. Ve are alloved to wonder 'i~ the
sparsely popalated seashore or count~ide vould have off.red Coderre's
l au,- Syl veatre et al, Eor! vaiU canadiens 1 Canadian 'iri ters, Montréal., 1966, p. 30. •
2 Jean Karrache, Bon our le .. Gara. Vers ramancMs et tices nortellea, Montréal, 1948, pr face, p. 20.
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imagination aB prolific a terrain for ima«es and portr~'B
Montreal did of a certain milieu, the Middle cl88s and the
He belonged to the first of theee and rubbed shoulders, with the seeon!ll(l); 1 1,,"'\
llis sympathies lie with both. He notes wryly of the former, "la clasee ,
, moyenne, c', est-à-dire la classe qu'a pas le moyen" 3.
He goes on to explain that he is not being cruel or eupereilious
towards his Olin people in giving that detinition of. t4~ middle elass. He ~ . . '. i
simply notices that the Middle class is one' of whi~e collar workers, the
worst paid and "des plus savamment et systématiquatllent taxés, voire même "'~,;:' .. -
exploi tés". The Middle class becaU8e of i ts education and pretensions
feels almost eompelled ta present a proper front, and 80 it puts up vith
privations of all sorts to gi:ve its children an education that will enable
them ta get a better deal in life than their parents. f
Coderre belonged ta that "classe moyenne"l Ris father vas a yo~
pharmacist, ri th li ttle extra money, a perféet example of a man belo~ ,~ ",
to that Middle class-9ùs Bon 80 attentively portrays. Emile Coderre as a \ '\) , ) very young child lived vith one relative rlter another: he did not knov '~o
'" the unique tenderness of a mother's care. His mother W'8B in pocr health
Suffering from tuberculosis, an l1lness whieh finally carried her aV81 vhen
Emile was only three years of age. Four "eare later, bis phar'lllaeist-father
3 Ibid., p. 2J..
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aIso died. Emile vas soon after adopted by bis father's sistet and uncle,
relati ves to whom he later dedicated a poem :full of gratefulne~ and af
fection, "Première Neige", from which ,the folloving verses may ~e quoted:
Ainsi, dans les réseaux de la vie enlacés Et dans la folle ardeur des espoirs caressés Nous oublions parfois ceux qui noue ont bercés.
Etonnés de le~ voir déjà vieux et tremblants Nous nous sedone au coeur un regret accablant Quand neigent sur leurs fronts les premiers
cheveux blancs. 4
c His foster-parents operated a prosperoUB pension (Pension Laberge)
on avenue Vi~er in whose salons an original, literary and cultural elite
often, met. A few bi~ names taken at random :from the liBt ehow the multiple
artiatic influences at play in ~ile Coderre's firet formative yeRrs. The7 \ . .
are famous actresses, Claude Pitter and Madame Ninove, a group of writere,
Margot Demontigny, Françoise Barry, Madeleine Huguenin, Mlle Bibeau, Gaeton ., de Montigny, Germain Beaulieu, the lIlU8ician Ernest Lavigne and last but not
least, poet Theodore Botrel. The pension was a perfect place for le~
about life in th' raw, since within ib walla he vitnessed the atntglea of "R· ..........
t middle-clasa boarders to malte enda meet, and outa:1.de of his s~;.. ,,'
gilded i t hi.uel~,. he could run around and play tricks
derpri vUepd treet urcb#is'~'Ôf hie own age, uaually aboun~
on Carré Viger. he met for the fint tae the helpless clasa of
peop~e he came to e and vhoee cause he generous.!y championed later -
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1 ~ / 4 Emile Coderre, Lea Signea sur i.e S'\'.lea, poltai .. , Qultbec, 1922, p. 23.
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, the rag-and-bone man and his clattering wheelbarrow, the "robineux" and
their eneaky hi p bottle, the Italian shoe-shine boys and their strong-
- -smelling sandwiches snug between poUah and rage in the eame box - in
short, the luckleeB ones of the city. At this period Emiie'e life was
one of co~tinuous contraste. For instance, in the pension, he would be
stuffed with deficate nougats by Theodore Botrel's young vife 5 , and in
-Carré Viger he vould share the etrong garlic sauaages o! .... his young street
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friends.
Around age ten, the traditional uncle, a "curé" with means, appeared
t< on the scene just in time to Bend him to the traditional classical college
(Le Séminaire de Nicolet) then attended by most young men, of middle-clsss
Quebec families. There he vas stunned by the beauty of the, countryside,
the open spaces, the green meadows, the treea, the flowera 'and-the birde
all around him. At age 17, the poet broke from his chrysalis. He launched •
on a literary career wi th the edi ting of the college newspaper ''Le Mercre
di" (preserved jeaJ.ously by the college, nov that !mile Caderre ls dead).
While at Nicolet, thé .meditative mood of his first period vas amply nurtured
by the ~ing experience of first contact vith Nature.
at the Seminaire wri tes,
''Monsieur EDile Coderre est un méditatif.
A friend of h1s
Il n'aval t pas ving:t __ ans que, BOUS l' habi t de ccill&~ens, nous iliions JIlWIer eJlIJemble sur les
5 The Botrela li ved at Pension Laber ge on their firet trip to Oanada (_1902- 1903).
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chem.irus couverts et le long des rivages du cher pays de Nicolet 6.
The romantic-symbolistic tone of' Coderre's verses a few years later vas
already simmering within him.
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Emile Coderre vent on to obtain first a B.A. degree, then a License
in Pharmacy, f'rom the University of' Montreal, in 1919. He acted as secre-
tary to the Pbarmaceutical College of the Province of Quebec for many
y~ara. Coderre was always "pince-sans-rire" (mock-serioua) even when it
came tb his own self', and he admi ts laughingly that pharmacy and pôetry
are indeed a surpri15ing combination. He vrites tongue-in-cheek, in "Envoi",
Princesse, je ne suis ni poète ni prince Pourtant, je seM en moi chanter des vers d'amour, Pharmacièn que le sort condamne pour toujours A tracer ce seul vers de ma plume qui. gr;i.nce "Prendre une cuillerée à thé trois fois par jourl" 7.
One wonders vhether Pharmacy WaB Coderre's choice as a profession by
inclination or from necessity. Hovever, it's bebiDà the counter of the
pharmacy where he vorked in st. Henri that he really came to kno.., the
underprivileged, as they brought him their tales of voe and their extra-
ordinary r~signation.
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6 Antoine DesUeta, Lea Signes sur le Sables J p06.ie8, Québec, 1922, préface, p. il. ,
. 7 Emile Coderre, Les Sipes sur le Sablea 1 po6aiea, Québec, 1922, p. 62.
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Ironically again, poor health made him abandon his position behind
the counter, and he took to the road as a travelling salesman for a paint o company. He lIlUBt hav~ been the stra.ngest paint salesman that ever roamed
Quebec province. While his eompanion salesmen were playing carrus in the
lobby of country hotels, he liould take refuge in bis room, lihere after h1s ,
habitual letter to his adored wife 8 he liould read Hugo or sketch poems
by the light of a smaky pet roI lamp whenever the inspiration lias with him.
After his t~~elling salesman's spree, Coderre stayed put in Montreal ".
to vrite and participate in the cultural life around h1m until his death
in 1969. His wit and humour expressed in the popular language made h1m a
much sought-after radio commentator and guest speaker. He lias also a pro-
lifle newspaper columnist for weekend publications. He had legions of
friends, and naturally some enemies all of whom he found intellectually
stimulating. He bas thiB to write about h1s enemies:
"Comme voua le voyez, Jean Narrache n'a pas que des amis. En cela, il n'a aucune originalité; mais ces inimitiés le flattent et l'honorent et il espère bien ne jamais les démériter. Et puis, parait-il, rien ne vaut un ennemi bien déterminé pour nous inciter à la lutte et à l'accomp1iBBement d'un tas de choses que l'on ne ferait paa, Bi l'on aval t que du amis" 9.
8 Most ,of Coderre's, boolœ are dedicated ,thua to hi.e vife: A ma "vieille" la compagne tdUjoura jeune et toujours adorable de mes bons et de mes buvais jours~ (''Vieille'' 1s to be read as a term of çeat endearment
- and devotion).
9 Jean Narrache, Bonjour les Garat Préface: Qui est Jean Narrache'1 par Jean Narrache, Montréal, 1948~ p. 17.
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His first col~ection of poems, Les Signes sur le Sable (1922), v
wri thn in tradi tional forma, "alexandrins", was iru5pired by love and
nature. Mgr Camille Roy f01md this first collection more to hie taste
than he did subsequent collection8. He wrote, 1
"Aussi achève-t-on la lecture du recueil (Les Signes sur le Sable) avec la conviction certaine que l'auteur, qui cherche encore sa personnalité, la trouvera sûrement et écrira des vers définitifs qui seront, comme d'ailleurs beaucoup de ceux qu'il vient de publier, plus que des "signes sur le sable"." 10
The same Mgr Roy, whose flagrant raul t was his "moralisme", was to
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become bitterly disappointed a few years later~ Jean Narrache's working "'~
class poetlc style and working class desperation. He condemned Jean Narra-..
che vehementl". for haTing "paganized" his pessim1sm and "for having suggest-- ~
ed, like Alfred de Vigny, that heaven ls deaf as a stone and an impassive
11 vi tness of our mortal anguish" Here is an example of the heresy Mgr
Roy finds Jean Narrache guilty of:
"J'parI' pour parler ••• ça chang' ra Vu qu'on ~st pauvre, on est des crasses Aux saints yeux des Champions d'la Race: Faut d 'l'argent pour être "homm' de bien".
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10 Jules Fournier, Antholop.e des Poètes canadiens, Montréal, 1933, p. 223.
11 Gérard Tougu, HiatOry of French-Canadian L5. terature, ~oronto, 1966, p. 139 (cf. Re~ sur nos lettres, p. 60) •
12 Jean Narrache, J'parI' pour parl.er, PouieJ, Montréal, 1939, p. 16, st. 4.
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It would have been interesting to read the same critic's comment on Jean
Narrache chez le Diable (1963), if h~lived to read it.
Then followed "Ohl ces Artistes 1 ••• " a one-act play in verse, wri tten
in c~llaboration with Aimé Plamondon (Québec, 1923). It seems to have
been Coderre's single effort at a play, unleas ~ome future biographer un-~
earths other efforts in that area.
, Ten yeara after Lea Signes sur le Sable (1922), still in his firet
manner, Emile Coderre became Jean Narrache, working class poet. The name . , .- '
is a pseudonym, a play on words: "J'en arrache",' a canadianiBlll meaning
'1 struggle for life', an attitude which illuminates bis second poetic
manner. From then on, Jean Narrache was faithful to the manner of Jehan
Ric~te populiste" 13 j he wrote series of poems unde:r:lining the
Misery of the "gagne-peti ta" and their dreams, who are more often than not
thwarted by life. The fo~owing books of poetry were all in this vein,
and they had a resounding succeSB in French Canada: Qaa.nd j'parI' tout
~ (1932), Histoire du Canada (1937), Bonsoir les gars (1948), J'parI'
tout seul quand Jean Narrache (1961).
His last work, Jean,larrache chez le diable (1963), tells o! an ex
traordinary trip ta hell, described rlth the same bitiZl« satiric rlt that
13 "J'suis '1 'homme moderne' qui pOu&!Je sa plainte, Et voua savez ben qu' j'ai raison!" (Jehan Rictus) Echoe8 of Rictus' "plainte" are discernible in the present-cùq ''boIml' modern", Marcel Charlebo~' complaints: "Chu tanné là bon" etc .~~ - .....
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characterizes Coderre's popular verse.
Even if many of his listeners and readers have, not extended Jean
Narrache the respect and the glory he de8erved, possibly because he has
made them laugh, hie influence in French Canada's vorld of letters vas
. great and continues to be so. His public vas an initiated homogeneous
j.nner sanctum - you had to be "en famille", a French-Canadian, to feel
his measage. A long line of follovers using the people' s language both
in poetry and in prose is leaving a vibrant trail in French Canada' s
literature. Among many more, names such as André Major (Le Cabochon),
Jacques Renaud (Le Casse), poet Gaston Miron, Jean-Paul Desbiens (Inso-
lences du Frère Untel), Qillés Vigneault, dow. to the inimitable singer-
composer Robert Charlebois and monologuist Yvon Deschamps, are all pro-
claiming the tongue and the identity of a people whom Coderre !ir~t dared
to reveal.
II - MEET RAYMOND SOUSTER
Raymond Souster (1921- ) is a Toronto poet, born and educated in
tha~ city. Although he was juSt being born at the tilDe when Ooderre's
first callevtion of poems (Les Signes ~ ,le Sable, 1922) lI8.I!I going throusll ",
the press': It is quite possible to callpare these two lIen's work. Does ,
not A.J .M. Smith tell us that,
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"The modern movement in banada began a little later in Engliah poetry than in French, perhapa because it began in France before it did in England?" 14
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Moreover, we can Bay that it iB not ao much the Emile Coderre of the
firat manner aB the "Jean Narrache" of the second who can be comp8.red to
Souater during the modern poetic technical revival after the Firat World
- 15
War. In aharp contraat to Coderre, wh~ was w~ling to talk about bi..m.self
in apite of M~ natural modesty. Souater aeemB quite retic~nt to do ao.
Biographical noticea about him are found on the flyleaf cover of moat
of his collected poema and are neeesaarily cryptic. The very uaeful dic
tionary of Canadian Writers 1 Ecrivains canadIens 15 and The Oxford Compa-
16 / nion to Canadian Li terature tell ua all that they know about' Raymond
Souater. We respect hie right to privacy and mention here only what he
obviouely doea not mind sharing with the public.
'I 1
He received his education at the Univeraity of,Toronto Schools and
at Humberaide Collegiate. Upon graduation from hlgh ~chool, he vorked'for
two yeara in a bank just before joining the R.C.A.F. in 1941; and for a
while served in England. One cannot help wonder if the bank 'lias to Souater
what the pharmacy 'lias to Cod erre , that ia, one way as saod as any of earni.n«
a living. Souater'a father WSB alBo a bank employee.
14 A.J .M. Smith, The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, Toronto, p. x1ii. )
'1.5 Guy Sylvestre et al, Ecrivaina ,canadiens/Canadian Writere, Montréal, 1966, p. 145.
16 Norah story, The OJçtord Companion to Caziadian Histoq and Literature, Toronto, 1967, p. 1V4.
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After bis dise barge from the Air Force, he returned to bis home
town of Toronto where he co~tinued to write. It iB interesting to observe
here that R~o~d Souater was involved in editing at least three different
li terary magazines at various periods in his life, while Emile Coderre' s , ,
name l'as never aBsociated with that type of literary work. _ ~en during
his military service Souster co-edited Direction (1943-1946) vith William Q
Goldbertj he vas co-editor (vith Jack HerBch), and then editor, of Contact
an international magazine of poetry (1952-1954). Thie last, vas the fore-
runner of Contact Press, l'hich he helped to round in 1952 wi~h Irving Lay-
ton and Louis Dudek. In ad di tian, Souster was ed! tor of Combustion during
the years 1957 to 1960. Much later, Souater edited an anthology entitled ,
New "Nave Canada: the n'ew explosion in Canadian poetry (19.66) •
If we know very lit~le of Raymond Souster, the private man, we know
a great deal of him as poet. He ia a much more prolific poet than Coderre,
a.nd hie themes are far more varied. His audience is fragmented and haa the
melting-pot qual1ty particular to the reading public of Most English-
speaking poets. Coderre, on the other band, addreBees himse1f e~clUBively
to a ti!htly-knit group, the French-speaking Canadians. In arder to res-
pond intimately to Narrache'e m8BBage one ~_tc belo BO to spaak j in
"'order to react fully to the peculiari ties of the laLl,li~~
to be French-ckdian. Wi th Souster i t Buff'ices to knol' King's English. 1 1
That iB" the reason why Souster's poelllB vere 80 well received ' the New
York Herald Tribune, in the Providence Sund81 Journal, in Voie
Kaleidosc'ope in the U.S.A., as welJ- as in the Canadian Forum, in ContemEo-
raIT Verse, First Statemént, Preview and Canadien Poetr:- We notice that ,
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the identity of Souster'a audience ia more doubtful that that of Coderre'a,
but he appeals to a greater public and ll.Ei8 more tp say. Milton Wilaon
writes: ,
"BJlt Souater' a poetic cOllJlllUD.i ty ia as much North Anterican aB Canadian, and his acquaWance vith United Statea poets and poetry ia ~ vide and close" 17. "
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The fol1owing s~ey_of his work is bound to be impressive, in spite of the
fad: that it ,mentions only the hlghlights of hi8 poetic career. o ("""
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In 1944, his poetry 'lias included in Unit of Fi ve, a ~ of poems
by five Canadian authora, Dudek, Hamb1eton, Page, Souster and Wreford. '.,
Souster haa published eighteen (18) books of pOetry since 1946. The-
'. fïrst of these ,VaB When We Are Young, a book dediQcated primarUy to 'the ~» ,
wonder of sexual love and the theme of social proteste Go to Sleep World
(1947) and City Hall Street (1951) followed. SOU8t~ Joined Dudek and Lay_ (/".J"
ton in 1952 to bring out Cerberus and Shake Rands lfi th the Hanpan in 1953.
Se1ected PoelllB appeared in 1956~ It vas an important consolidating co~!ec
tion." A Local Pride came six years later, in 1962. The Colour of th,
Times (1964), his co11ected po~ trom 1931 to 1963, von a Governor General'a ~ -.
avard for poetry. A' more recent volume' Te; nêphante on Yongè street b96')
17 Milton 'Wilson, Poetrz of Ki:d-CentUI7 1940-l9§o, RaJm0nd Soueter, Montréal, p. 112_
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contains another eighty-six (86) poems, most of which are about the Toron-e" 1
to scene. As ls (1967), Lost and Found (1968), So Far So Good (1969), (
wi th The Years, poems (1971) close thiB list of his essent~al wOrkB.
Raymond Sous ter has by no means finished wri tin~; hiB audience 1B
waiting expectantly for more. One -aspect of this poet's work strikes the
reader: hiB conBistency of style. Unlike Codevre, Souster did not feel
the need of adopting a second poetic manner in order to continue communi-.. . ,cating with hie public; he haB kept bis poetic tone and form even and
consistent vith extraordinarily little change over the years Bince 1944.
Like Coderre;.- "il a fait école" on his Olin; he iB .eelf-taught in
~etry. George Woodcock bas thiB to Bay about Soue ter , s influence on
youn!er poetB: "After a quarf:r of a century of writing, (he) is still
, 18 truated and accepted by the very young as a kind of po~tic ~" •
Unlike-Coderre, it is in association vith others that he has contriouted .. -Bignificantly to the development of Canadian Literature. The trio of L~-
ton, Dudek and Sous ter "fot'IDed a school of more or less sophi tiéated pro-"
letarian poetB" 19 , of the modern revival, and were inat~ental in 8e-'
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curing an interest in experimental po~try in Canada. Louis Dudek I5UDllI18.I"ize8 - 1
very clearly the influence that sous~aytonl and he himse1f had on
18 Geor .. Woodcock, cânada and the Canadiana, Toronto, 1970, p. 253. i.
19 A.J.M. Smith, The Book Of Canadipn poetry. A Critical and Blatorical Antho1oll, Toronto, 1957 •
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Canadian poetry: ~ lb
"It was not unti1 Lay ton appeared, and SOUBter (from wherever he was stationed vith the R.A.F.), and myse1f, that vhat WB "politieal" before beeame truly Canadian and rea-1istic modern poetryi and the language corresponded thereto as Canadian voiee and rhythm, not as Eng1iah metre" 20.
Nov that we have a nodding acquaintance vith our tvo poeta, Coderre
and Souster, lite will take a look at the social and hiatorical climates
partly responsible for their desire for change and newness, which is a
eharacteristic of both. Each in his own vay and in his individua1 sphere
of influence helped "throw aside most of the barriers erected betveen the
.,.... modern poet and hi,s audience" 21 •
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III - CONDITIONS OF TEE PERlOn
During Sir Wilfrid Laurier's era (1896-1911), "Canada. had risen to .t
prospe/ity"" confidence, and nationalism, and. vas well on the vay to full
nationhood. Laurier, harlnS been reared in English as vell as Fren.ch thought,
achieved unit,. in the tvo foundint; eultures BUch a8 had never existed befon. ()
20 Louis Dudek, The Mak:fng of Modern poetrz in Canada, Toronto, 1968, p. ,278.
21 R8.J'IIond Souster, The Kaking of Modern poétI'l in Canada, TQ~nto, 1968, p. 301. " ... G, ~ __
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• o Unfortunately, on August 4, 1914 the world "War" shattered Canada's
complacent calm, straining its budding nationalism and forcing it to
nationhood. "There are no longer French-Canadians and English-Canadians",
declared the Montreal La Patrie on the saMe date, "Only one race nov
exists united by the closest bonde in a common cause". This self-:right-
eous enthusiasm evident at the beginning of the First World War gradually
dwindled, however, eroded as it was by the enormous national and personal
sacrifices repeatedly demanded of the Canadian people.
By 1917, Emile Coderre vas then a young man of 24, 'national unit y
had deteriorated into one of the Most serioue crises Canada haB had to face
sinee Confederation: the question of conscription for overseas service.
• The same year, the Ontario school controversy (Regulation 17, confining
teaching in the French language to the early grades and restricting the
establishment of new French-language schools) vas seen by Most French
Canadians as an attempt to limit minority rights. The fact that the courts
granted validity to the Ontario language regulations did not rub out the
feeling vith the French Canadians that an injustice had been done them.
Resentment was in the air. When the need for manpower to replenish the
casualties at the front became urgen~, Fren?h-Canada appeared to drag its
feet about enlisting voluntari1,.; naturally EngliBh-speak1ng Canada could
not resit\t pointing thia out. The charge vas partI,. true for a number of
reasona; some of the Most flagrant lIlaJ' be mentioned: .11. .:: 1', ~.l"" . .'
1) The French Canadians had no emotional attachaent to either
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En.gl.and or France--England the,. conaidered the conqueror and France ha4
deserted, them;
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2) Quebec was largely agricultut>al, and farmers whether Englieh
or French, in all the regioIlB of the country, had been reluctant to
enliatj
3) The awkward handling of recruitment by the Borden government,
possibly becauee of language difficultiea, had diacouraged Many French-
Canadian volunteera.
AlI in all, conscription wae not acceptable to Quebec, and they
denounced i t in no uncertain tertl1B. Following a bitter campaign., electiobs-<
were won by Unionista (Liberala and Conservatïves) 'who carried 150 constituen-
eies, of which only 3 were in Quebec. Canada was split as naver ~efore, and
Quebec was left almoat completely iaolated from the rest of Canada over
this issue. The rupture of Mtional unit Y was a high price - to pay for the
reinforcements in men that Canada vas able to di.rect oversea8.
The first and strongest signa of diacontent came- from the urban
working clasSe r The" felt that rank injustice luM been committed in a system
that would send a vorker ~o t~ front while b.is employer got rich ol}. var :,-, ,,>1.
contracta (the "clasae dirigeante" mentioned so often by Coderre in ms
poems). Emile Coderre as a young man must bave subconsciously reco~ded
thie frwstration of "the underdog" over the conscription iaaue al!! Most
French-Canadians did.
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22 Under the "colourlelSs and cautioUB MacKenzie King" , Canada
prospered in the late twenties with the rapid development of nev staples
like gold, nickel, copper, pulpwood and nevsprint, which vere added to
th~ krain exports Canadian economy had eurvi ved on almost exclusi vely.
These years vere the roaring twenties immortalized in film. Hovever, the
prosperity vhich these new economic developments brought vas not evenly
distributed across Canada. Ontario and Quebec benefited most from the
mining developments, with Montreal and Toronto providing the finances
necessary for the exploiting of the new ~eral deposits and by-~sing
almost completely the Maritimes and poorer regions. The gradual shift in
the Canadian economy from,agriculture to industry produced by reaction a .1<0 • sim11ar shift in the population from the country to the city. Coderre's
working-man type as delineated in hilS poetry, followed this current.
With the great craéh in the autumn of 1929, the years of prosperity
came to a sudden end. In Canada the impact of the vorld-wide economic de-.......
pression vas serious, as she had come to depend heavily upon foreign trade.
The economic slump vas dilS8.8trous--'and the cHies succumbed to local chari-
ties and long queues of bread-winners maintàined through gover.nment relief
(the hated "secours direct" in Quebec). ~le Coderre' s "underdog", fore-
ver haunted by unemployment,~took shape.
22 Ramsay Cook et al, Canada., A Modern StoI]', Toronto, 1967, p. 190.
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Then follo'Wed the Depression Decade, under Prime Minister Bennett
and the Conservative government. (autumn of 1930), a government which attempted
ta meet the hardships of the Canadian people by traditional policies.
Bennett, like other world leaders, had no magic solution, and the Canadian
people fèlt let down.
In the Quebec 30's, political unrest vas combined with social radica-
liem, and ta this was added French-Canadian nationalisme When thousand.s of
French-Canadians were thrown out of 'Work, there was a grumbling, smouldering
resentment against tliè "t'oreignlt power that controlléd the economy' - the ... \.
English Canadians. By 1936, Maurice Dupless~.;.._w~ elected Premier of Quebec
on promises of reforme He vas an extremely clever politician and did not
fail to manipulate this anger of the people against "la classe dirige~e"
for his own political ends.
e~~my, the Federal government.
He 'W8.I!J saon to vage a bitter 'Wa;- against the
MacKenzie King, again in office in 1935, #
, didn't help. Duplessis c~ingly wrapped his political platform in re-
sounding phrases of "provincial autonomy, French-Canadian rights, safe- .
guarding the French language and the Catho1ic religion". He stirred back
to lire aIl the old hostili ty to'Ward the central governm~~t that had pre
vailed during the Conscription criais. During hia "reign", the man !rom
the street vas intimidated into ailence vith "padlock" lava" patronage
tac tics , and subtle threats into submission. It was vhat becaDle known in
Quebec as "la grande noirc-eur". The often-quoted remark "Toé, ta:ts-toé"
Duplessis ia alleged to have made in answer to a colleape who vas tillidl7
trying to place an objection ta his polieies', typifies the etate of reprea
sion the Quebec people 'Were in. ''La. arande noirceull" beautifull7, recorded
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in J ean-JuleB Richard' B first social nov el 23 , published in 1959, lasted
until "le chef' B" 24 death. This cowering silent figure of a man 1a the
one behind Jean Narrache's verse, J'ParI' Pour Parler:
J'parI' pour parler ••• S1 j'me permets De dir' tout haut c'que ben d'autr's pensent, C'eBt ma manière~ d'prendr' leur défense: J'parI' pour toua ceux qui parl'nt jama.iBJ 25
Coderre's preoccupation, however, ia a narrow one, l1m1ted to Quebec.
When he projects himself outBide this boundary he_haB only invecttves to
sling at ottawa. The unemployed, the destitude, the vretched oneé of
Souster's poems, also came to life from this decade, or from the Bame can-,. .... cerous state of unemployment which peri_cally assails Canada as a matter
of course.
Then came the Second World Wax vith more Misery dogging both poets.
Souster vas ~ young man entering World War II, just as Coderre had been
at the beginning of World War l. Canada's position vas different from
wbat it had been ~ 1914; vhere pre!iously Great Brita.?-n ~ deelared war
23 J .an-Julea Richard, ,Le Feu dans l'Amiante.
24 Charbonneau et le Chef, a plq 'by John Thomas McDonough, adapted by Paul H''bert and Pierrè~ Morency 1.8 currently perfOl'!lH in Quebec Province. Jean Dueeppe, one of Canada'a leading actora pl8J's Dupleu1.s as "le chef" vi th uncanny' realism. ''Le Che fi' vas the niekneme bestowed upon Duplessis by bis awe-struck part1.aans.
25 Jean Narrache, J'parI' pour parler, Montréal, 1939 •
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for the vhèle Empire, nov Canada dontrolled its own foreign policy and
declared var in~ependently, on September 10, 1939. It vould have been
futile not to realize that the var vould be long and difficult. The
squabbles over conscription vhich had separated the nation in 1914 vere
revived vividly among the French-Canadians. They supported the declara-,
tion of var but took a firm stand from the very beginning in opposition
to military conscription for overseas service. They wanted to fight on a o
voluntary- baeis as a free people, vhich of course they vere note A
ahortage of var manpower again weakened Canadian re~ents overseas. The
racial eplit of 1917 was revived with the plebiscite of 1942, releasing
the federal govemment from it~ pledge not to apply conscription. Once
more, the French-Canadiana felt cheated. Hovever, MacKenzie King this time 6
had the foresight to seek the help of a young Quebec lawyer, Louis St-Lau-
rent, who aaved the aituation. Quebec finally had to accept an 'irrev;cable
situation, their resentment being toned down a bit by M. St-Laurént'a tact.
The var had had a beneficial effect on the economy of the country;
it had lifted it ~rom the miseriea of depreaaion by'producing full employment.
So, by 1945, Candaa was anxioua to turn itae1f reso1utely towards a cons-
tructive development goal. Betveen 1941 ~ 1962, Canada'a population in
creaeed from 11,500,000 to 18,500,000. '!'hie increase vas due partly to a.
high birth rate, but more ~o to :immigration. Britieh, Italians, Ge:rm.arus, {
Hungarians, Poliah, a fev French and Spaniarda, verè: among the nevcomere.
Theae nev Canadiane, in contrast to thoae of the gr~at immigration boom
prior to 1911t;, did not go into ~culture and .f~ng; inetead .the,. looked
for opportunities in the industrial citi.s, thua helping te emphasize yet more "
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the ebbing flow from the count~ towards the city. Many of these new
Canadians settled in Toronto and found a voiee in Raymond Souster's poetry, : .... r _ .. / l"'l.\. • ~
wbich expressed the feelings of social protest'during these immigration
years. Souster also spoke up for the var disabled, the drunk.a, the fru.a-
tated, in short, the socially crippled, all those trying to make i t in
Canada's melting pot4r Jean Narrache continued bis satiric social protest,
26 tbia Ume in prose, vi th hie last book , Jean Narrache Chez le Diable ,
confining bis thrusts to Quebec with a few outside diga at ottawa and
Trudeau, and the fo:l;ly of Moon Trips.
The language wbich Coderre and Souster used to communicate vi th
their respective audiences w~ as different as they themselves vere; but
the message behind the vords 'lias often almost identical. This l will
endeavour to establish in my next cbapter which examines their style and
language.
...
26 Jean Narrache, Jean Narrache chez 1. diable, Montréal. 1963 •
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CHAPTER II
STYLE AND LANGUAGE
'1 .. l - THE STYLE AND LANGUAGE OF EMILE CODERRE
Both poets, Coderre and Souater, craved instant communication with
their respective audiences, perhapa vith a greater earnestness in the .... case of Emile Coderre. In order to achieve their aim they bad to 1lse
the plain, everyman' 8 language, and this waa to be especially effective
in their social protest poems. Th~ colorful images that their often
strong language conjured shocked their readers into social' conso,iousness •
This desire for awakening the public to the evils of the day is a common
,feature of both poets. Each, however, went at it in his own way, in'bis
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awn style.
At first, Coderre's poetic style as demonstrated in Les Signes sur
le Sable (1922) was more or less like that of ot4er poeta of the time: not
original in a:n.y way, rather trad! tional in form wi th lei tmoti vs or Love,
Nature and Solitude runnins through it. It imitated such French s,mboliets
as Albert Samoin, André Rivoire, Edmond Rostand, Georges Rodenbach and
Paul Verlaine. The title or the collection, Lea Signes sur le Sable (1922),
ia itsel! a beautiful s;ymbol. Alphonse Désilete, in his Preface to the
poems, offera the, folloving, romantic interpretation or the aolitary figure
o! a man strolling on the beach, reflecting vith melancho1y upon life' •
futD:.ity, 811 t1Pical of the book:
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"On marche au gré de la pensée. Les pas s'imprim,ent dans les sables du rivage. La vague qui s'amincit s'échappe, en déterlant, ses frangea argentées au bord dea empreintes légères. On a' arrête un instant. Des signes se dessinent dans la silice mouvante. Deux mots s'écrivent: "J e t 1 aime". Celui qui passera, le lendemain, sur cette grève ne devinera point la brève légende que le rêve a tracée ,. au crépuscule soli taire, sous la dictée de l'amour ••• 27.
- 28
The vhole collection is impregnated vith dream, tender love, appeals to
Nature and exhortations to the Moon; the poetic language and torm used ,v.-~
here bears practically no resemblance to the colloquial manner, the "vox
" humana" which Coderre' vas to adopt sa thorougbly later aB Jean Narrache.
"" l, One is even tempted to wonder if Coderre and Narrache are really the l!SalDe Î'
man ••• Still, on close reading ot the collection, one occasionnally senses
a subtIe indication of the manner to -'Come. For instance, the language ma,.
drop unexpectedly t~.1 a lover level, the tone become bantering in nature, , 1
and border almost on vorking clBSB expression. Amidst the unmistakable 1
romanticism vi th which 'Ballade devant la Iun.:!', for exampIe, is pe).'llleated,
the reader is jolted by a jarring note vhen he happens upon,
,
La lune avec son air bonasse ••• Dans l'ombre du soir ennuyeux •••
Qnd at the end ot the tollowing stanza, -,\
27 Alphon.ee Désil~;~s, Les Signes sur le Sable, Montréal, 1922, pnface •
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< Voir tant d'argent 28 c'est enrageant \.
The epithets ''bona.sse" attached ta the Moon, "ennuyeux" to the evening
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an4' "enrageant" definitely belong to Jean Narrache' s language of tlle second
manner.
Quand j'parI' tout seul publiBhed in 1936 came out ~ibrantly alive
" with conversational "homme â tout faire" French. The extraordinary formula,
never UBed before in French Canada, of connecting tull rounded-worda with Il
elided ones in a sing-song pattern of rhymes and sounds was instantly recoJ... ~.(._~
gnized as their own by any French-Canadian, whether educated or not, es-
pecially if the poetry was read aloud. This neW' style gave incred1ble power
to Narrache's social Batire and irony. On impact, Jean-Baptiste, Quebec's
patron saint, exPerienced the first ~winges of alienation between himself
and his untoward submissive lamb. We csA safely assert that years before
the Quebec Public finally rejeeted the ill-advised lamb, Narrache had
shaken French Canada into a re-appraisal of i tself vi th the ironie portrait
of the symbolic lamb in'~otre Fête Nationale~
Le mouton, c'est notre emblème, bondancel Ça noua reS8embl' comm' deux toutt's d'eau Ça suit toujours, ça pas d'détenee, Ca s' lai~~ manger la laiIi' su' l' dos 1 29
28 Emile Coderre, Les Siees sur le sable, Montr'6al, 1922, p. 45 • 1
Jean ~rache, Quana j'parl' tout seul, Montr&al, 1932, pl. "91 •
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v The abundant eliaion added to the figurative" expressions in; 11.2
and 11.4 has instantaneous meaning for the French Canadien reade~' who
grina sheepishly as he recognizes himself. He squirms a little but
receives the messag~, straight, without poetic ~mbellishments ~hrust at
him as i t is, w.!.. th apparent innocence. The elision so abundantly used
by Narrache shortens words and sentences, determines the rhythm itself
and gives an added dimension to the thought or to the image. Narrache
WO plays aB far as he dares vi th poetic conventions when he replaces
rhyme with assonance, as in the self-portrait stanza belo'W," where ',\>ête" v
and "poète" are'" only approximate sounds.
J'suis l'mouton noir! J'suis la bête Qui sait rien fair' qu t a du bon sena~ J'suis comme une espèce da poète; Pardonnez-moi, j'ai ça dans l' sang. 30
A few '~tanzas flirthew in the same poem "Jasette à Notre-Dame", the reader
30
i8 impressed by Jean Narrache' s remarkable hone8t lucidi ty in the appraisal
ot his olAt poetry,
Mes pauvres vers, c'es~ des rimette8t Ah! non, c'est p~ rich' comme cadeau! J'ai beau suer à m'mettre en lavette, J' sais pas l' tour d'en fair' des plus beaux.
o
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30 Jean Narrache, J'farl8' tout seu1 °quand Jean Harrache, Montréal, p. 65.
o
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We bave to admit that no deluaions whatsoever o
aB to the quali ty and level of ,his poe~c inspiration in the general run
ot hie verse, uG
Narrache's strong style, 50 effective in'biting social satire,
could become qui te, ludicroua on educated and pretty ladies' lips, as in
''Engueulade à ~ Idéaliste".
J '
'" Quand on es~ ,l'auvre, il faut rie~,«;ire Mais s' laiss~ pleumer au' t:Mgno~l,~ Faut pas penser su' c 'qu'on peut "lj:re ••• Faut même pas avoir d' opinion. ~"32
"
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It is underetandable that Narrache's Most relentless critics were to
J 0
be the champions of "le bon parler français", critics who w!re still, even
then'l,::;;ümed nostalgically towarda France 'for cultural standards and rulrs of correctness. However ,0 Narraèhe' s spic)" 'manner of saying "things as ~h!'y.
::0 " are" iB 'Ilhat consecrated him as the harbing~r of the "joual" style, a nJune
1 that André LaH-rendeau 33 coined so succintly. }.et it be said in passin~
, C' ,,-, \:-; 34 tpat "joual" iB b)" no II!eanB "the slang of M0Itt~" al one ,
i8 the' colloquial speech of the whole French-speaking Canada.
but that lit
We belitve
that Jean-Paul Desbiene has the best description and "
appreciation of ttf~" /; - CJ
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/ 32 Ibid. t p. 27.· D 1
33
34"
André Laurendeau, "Actuali tés", te Devoir, Montréal, 21 octobre ]959. Il 1
Georges Woodcock, Canada and the Canad1ans, Toronto, 1970, .p. 2,59 •
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of any we bave read 35 •
Northrop Frye remarks in a passage about "what poetry can gi ve" and
the readinga of poetry: "DIen if the rhythm is free, i t' s still something
to be declaimed" 36. We find tbat Narrache' s poetry thoroughly fulfills
this hope of Frye's. This poetry gets a he art y homage every year especially
at Christmas time, when it is declaimed by Quebec's best performers. It
bas become part of Quebec' B heritage now, and Hs style and language set
a senai tive chard vibrating in an important segxnent of the population wi thin
the confines of French Canada, no matter wbat the most inveterate cri tics
of the style have ta say. Still, one must admit that Narrache's critics
bave a point when they accuse his style of becoming rather monotonoUB once
the initial scandalized schock, surprise or emotion is over. ct
"Cependant Jean Narrache est quelque peu monotone quand il "parle 'pour parler". Le style en "overall" qu'il emploie devient vite insupportable si le poète ne trouve pas le moyen d'intéresser, de surprendre, de scandaliser ou d'émou-
. voir son lecteur au moinB une fois par quatrain. Jean Narrache a beau affirmer: "Moi, j' par l' pas pour rien dire", la plupart de ses vera ne sont que déclamation et verbiage." 37
(
The sarne cri tic goea muci\. further in his attack on Narrache' s st71e and
language - he charges i t vi th parody and near plagiariBm. "Le maire passe"
oC;:.. ••
35 Jean-Paul Desbiens, Les Insolences du Frère Untel, Montréal, 1960, p. 23 à 25 •
36 Louis Dudek and Michael Gnarowsld., The Mald.ng of Modern Poet?' in Canada, ~oronto, 1967, p. 193. Il
37 ~ond Bayle, "J'parle pour parler par Jean Narrache" dans la Revue 1
Moderne, vol. 21, juin 1939, p. 28.
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ra an amusing parody of "Le rêve passe", a very popular song in Narrache' s .
time, wi th Napoleon as central figure 38. He wri tes,
. -"De plus, ''Le ~aire passe" et "Chanson
pour le temps des élections" dépassent les limites permises de la simple parodie et ,se rapprochent carrément du plagiat" 39.
Narrache's soliloquies or dramatic monologues come under no such ~
!ire. Their colorful language and style reach a summit of emotion in
social portraits of the poor underdog. Jean Narrache' is of course the
underdog himself, the handy-man who is nev~r assured of a job, who manages t.
to smile through his troublea because of his simple fai th and extraordinary
patience. This is his poetic persons. He accepte his lot an acceptance r
considered a virtue in Narrachers time, but considered something of a q
weakness nowadays.
Even when Narrache &peaks loud and strong, he is never a ring leader C'
inci ting ta riot and revolution. In ''Pas d'instruction", he wri tes,
Non, moé, j'sus pas un communisse, j'eus pas non plus pour les U!Il0ns. J'veux pas d'mal aux capitalisses et j 'braill' p~ contre les patrons. 40
o - '
Charles-Elrlle Gadboi~ Bonne Ch.anBon, St-~acin€he, p. 139. r ,
39 Raymond Bayle, "J'parletpour parler par Jean Narrache" dans Revue Moderne, vo~. 21, juin 1939, p. 28. '-' ,>
40 Jean N'arrache, Quand j ~parl' tout seul, Montréal, 1934 •
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Again Jean Narrache's style is most effective as a weapon of irony in
"Au Sieur de Maisonneuve et à ses compagnons",
J'vous dis, mes gars; qu'déjà ell's'plante Pour vous fêter comm' des p'tits fous, Votre admirabl' Class' Dirigeante Qui nous dirig' toujours dans l' trou. 41
In his "hO~ search for the truth of the human C~~ditiOnt'--'80 aptly '- 42 l'
described by Georges Woodcock , Jean Narrache's peculiar everyday style
and language lend unmistakable accents of credibilit~-and originality to
the poem "Assuré contre les accidents". In it the "gueux" muses ironically
that he would be worth much more as a dead man, in dollar bills t'ô his "V:
vidow and as a fulfiller of dreams such aB a classical convent educatibn
for his children, if he were killed in a factory accident:
Mill' piass'sl Pensez-y don', mill' piassasl Avec ça, ma femme s'achèt'rait Un restaurant d'crème à la glace; A vi vrai t comme un' rein'; pas vrai?
A pourrait 'êtr' sans inquiétude, Rapport que ça paie, un restaurant.
, Mon Jos pourrait fair' ses études, Pis ma Jeanne irait au couvent. 43
41. Jean Narrache, J'parI' pour parler, Montréal, 1939.
42 Georges Woodcock, Canada and the Canadians, Toronto, 1970.
43 Jean Narrache, Quand j'parI' tout seul., Montréal, 1934.
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Let us grant Jean Bruchési, who is certainly not always tender towards
Jean Narrache's style, the final word on this topic. Bruchési regrets that
Quebec does not have many more poets of Narrache's calibre, capable of
whipping up more social awareness in its people,
"Il nous faudrait des centaines de Jean Narrache pour manier avec la force et la mesure d'Emile Coderre le fouet de l'ironie et de la satire, des Jean Narrache qui n' attendraieI1t pas que les vieux reviennent sur terre pour "flanquer leu pied quequ' part" à nos beaux discoureurs" 44'.
II - THE STYLE AND LANGUAGE OF RAYMOND SOUSTER
Q
As in Coderre, "effective communication" is a great preoccupation ,
with Souster; it often compels him to use language so simple as to 'De ins-~ -,.~-
tan~ly understood, and a style occasionnally so blunt as to be considered
" vulgar. In "Search", the language of the verses is direct and physical;
a joint is a joint vith the odors clinging appropriately to it; the style
is'beautifully adapted ta the everyday'image descrihed.
Not another bite, not another cigarett&, Nor a final coffee from the sbining coff,e-urn
before you leave The warmth Bt~Aming at the windows of the hamburger
joint where the Wurlitzer BoolllS all night vi thout a stop, where the onions are
thick between the buna. 45
44 Jean Bruchési, "Dans le monde des lettres", dans Revue Moderne, vol. 14, novembre 1932.
45 Ra,mond Souster, The Colour of the Timea, Toronto, 1968, p. 2.
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We think that the Btanz~bove demonstrates vell the quality of Souster's
sueeessful poems as qescribed in Fred~rick Nims' comment,
" ••• what Souster does is to express rapidly, sometimes roughly, in verse lines strong and tensile, the passion vhich is the consequence of observing and thinking about Ms social milieu" 46 ..
In the same poem "Search", ve also come across a very good example
of the "ironie contrast" mentioned by Robert Fulford: the va..x;nth, the Q
coffee, the music, the juiey food 'are "all human comforts denied the speaker
of the poem, presented in the tvo negative verses preceding. The same
cri~ic writes about Souster the poet,
"Like an'1 poet he's absorbed by the human condition, but vi th him this absorption is as likely as not to manifest itself in a casual int-ereet in jazi- or bas eball " 47.
The understanding language direoted soothingly at the dowp-in-his-luck gay
huddling under his "cheap ooat" expresses a deep interest in the human , t
condition.. We sense a human compassion 'much as Coderre shoved, although
in a ltompletely different style. The firet vords of admonition even rem1nd
us of a mother's tender concern,
46 John Frederick Nims, 'Tive Young Canadian Poeta" in Poetr: a Mya.ziI!e of Verse, Chicas9, no VI, Beptember 1945, p. 334 •
47 Robert Fulford,' "On Raymond Bousterl A Good Toronto Poet Toronto Never Discovered", in Maclean' 8, no 8, April 18, 1964.
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, "Wrap yourself well in that cheap coat that holda back the wind like a sfeve" 48.
, .
The lines of "Search" that end the poem, really impresa us vi th the long,
taut and tense sentence, adding clause upon clause, stretching painf"ully,
in step so to speak with the valk and feelings of the pathetic figure:
You have a long vay to go, and the streets are dark, You may have to valk ail night before you find ... Another he art as lonely, so nearly mad vith boredom, So filled with such strength,' such tenderness of love. 49
Again, vhere we Und S6uster' B style masterful. is in the tenaion-,
creating device he uses to contrast tvo levela o! language in the SBme
poem. In ''North of Toronto" for, instance, the atabili ty and the puri ty
of "this stretch of Ontario" ia made to stand out .vividly against the deca-
• dence of "worms in the brain", 'the ~oated belly" &nd ail the things that
"rot like stinking Europe", ..
Whatever else in this sreat year of death, worms in the brain
and bloated b~ly, Whatever ~lse is doomed to mix vith d~t
or rot like stinking Europe ---
. . . but this stretch of Ontario
will be here to be looked at in tvo years or tW'O hundred,
48 Raymond Sowster, The Colour of the Times, Toronto, 1968, p. 2 •
49 Ibid., p. 2. (,
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~ •. ,~ a the same rich beauty nashing by the desperate bus, the same balm of peace, of gracious living, in ail the sleepy towns, the slumbering villages. 50
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Coderre also uses the technique of obtaining tension vith contrasts. The
thought-provoking im88E!S that come to lite are m08tly of people and their
sad social condition living under the same Bky as people who have it good.
Coderre's'images are more condensed than Souster's; we find several images
in one short stanza of four line~, as for example in the tollowing stanza
from ''En regardant la lune",
Pis, y'a-t-i' des gens qui pâtissent sans savoir c' qui mang'ront l'lend'~j tandis que tant d'autr's s'enrichissent dans l'trust d'la viande et pis du pain? 51
The last Une of this stanza eSp9cially is a masteI1liece in contrast
vith the word "trust" !,or the heartles8 business vorld pi tted against
"viande" and "pain" the humble staples of human life. The style of collaging
opposite images shared by both our poets provides a point of contact between
them; the concern that emerges 18 neither a French Canadian nor an Ontarian
one - it is universal.
Sometimes Souster' s language ia BO colloquial as to become CO&r8e.
We are surprised that tt 18 especially 80 wben he de8cribes ,the rich wamen
50 Ibid., p. 6 •
51 Jean Narrache, J'parI f tout seul quand J!an Narrache, p. 121.
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or the "croqueuse-de-diamants" type. In the linea quoted below, Souster'a
language becomes heavy vith disdain and the language describing the men
is colloquial, but net exceasively harsh. It is a 'simple statement of tact;
~~le that addressed to their girlfriends or wives (depending on the erlen-
., i sion one gives the .Jard ''broad'') is downright crude.
It is too late to leave your big houses where the people .with class drop in' the fast millionaire broads Ifghted with diamonds the stock and ~ond m~n vith dough and a smooth line 52
If we conaider Coderre's approach to .. omen and men of the "la haut" society, '
we rind, him equally biting towards the men and the women. ~ "Les Bals "14.. '"
Chari té", Narrache playe fair: the wOlllen are ridiculed in the tirst stanza
quoted, below, then it (lis the men' s turn in the second.
Des dam's assez vieillIs pour êtr' sages laiss'nt pour tant voir c'qu'ell's ont su'l'coeur en entrebaillant leur corsage, d'vant des étudiants pleins d'candepr.
Des p'tits messieurs en queue-d'morue, l'cou étranglé dans leur collet, dans'nt joue à joue avec des !TUes, f
c 'pour la Charité, s' i 'vous plaît! .53
Souster was in the R.C.A.F. in World War IIj Coderre was not involved o
in World War ll. Souster' s irony when talkins about var becomes sheer c1-...
52 ,John Frederick lfiu, ''Five YOUDS Canadian Poeta" in Poetrz A Myazine of Verse, Chicago, no VI, Sept_ber 1945, p,. 334.
53 Jean Ifarrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jelll1lfarrache, p.:74.
liili; .~
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niciam, as in ,the poem "Willie the Lion":
The historians say Mr. King saved Canada AB for Steve ••• he gets a pension, and may learn in time to walk wi thout a cane.
..
Again in "Phoney War", his style becomes effect! vely satiric by
saying the incredible opposite of what happens in realityl
And everybody bas weekends and goes to bed wi. th their wi. ves or their lovers,
And every man is a hero, and his name will be remembered long, long after the war is .. ver.
And if you should accidèntally die, your soul will lie at rest on the breasts of a dozen angels. 55,
Unlike Souster, Coderre threw only a disinterested glance at war.
-40
In all his york, we notice only a few passing references' to the issue; bis
attitude may be indicative of the isolation that Quebec accepted for too
many years, and its reluctance at really getting invo1ved in the var. We
must note that what provoked Narrache to poetry (during bis second period)
was the wor1d Depression of the 1930's; vhereas vha.t chien,. inspired Soua-
ter W8!J bis involvement in World War II. In any case, Coderre's'style is e
.54 Raplond Souster, . The Co10ur of the TilIlés, Toronto, 1968, p. 74. ,
55 Raymond Souster, When We Are Yoang. Montr6al; 80 Fai-So Good" Englsnd, 1969. .
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too b1and to match the crue1ty of war; it honest1y lends itsel! more ta
praying ta Jesus for peace as in "Au Pied de la Crèche".
Dir' que partout y'a d'la misère Et du malheur de tous côtés,
~ Qu'y a des meurtr's, des maaaacr's, des guerres, Parc'que personn' veut t'écouter!
1
R' gard' pas seul' ment qu' les matamores Qu'ont s'mé la bain' dans l'monde entier; P'tit Jésus, r'gard', y'en a encore Tant d'innocents qui font pitié. 56
Again in his social protest poem.s, Narrache' a atyle ia much milder than
- 41
Souster's. Where the one is whining and accommodating in tone, the other
1a vehement and fie17. The two extracts that follow speak for themselves •
Fai t' -moi r' trouver, - J' pas égo!ste -Rien qu'ma pauvr' p'tit' plac' d'ouvrier J r vous d r mand" pas un' pIac' de ministre j Non! j'veux un'plac' pour travailler. 57
Othis court yard never changes, It is still the same dirt, sue smells, same rot, The ~ame squirming, crawling tenement like a festered
-- sore under- Gad' s sky. M~be a landlord owns that too. 58
Or, this later i-rreverent version of the same stanza, gaining a sreat deal .
of force vith "tin-roofed sweat box", "lower slopes of H'ell" and "open i
/
.56 Jean Narrache, J'par10 tout !seul quand Jean Narrache, p. 39.
57 ~., ''Prière à Saint-Antoine", p •. 72 •
58 ~ond Souster, City Hall street, TOronto, 1951, p. 4.
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sore on the face of God",
Othis court yard never changes, i t 's still the same clirt, srune rot, same BII1ell same squirming, crawling tenement, tin-roofed sweat-box on the lover slopes of Hell, open sçre on the face of God. 59
- 42
Like Coderre who was accused of near plagiarism by his cri tics, SOuB-
ter haB also been accused of having ''borrowed'' rather heavily from Kenneth
Fearing. NimB writes,
''Much more often he sounda like an exci ted puppet on the knee of Kenneth Fearing. He haB not only Fearing' s technique of amassing phrases and clauses,like a portentoUs fugue, he ev en bas much of hie tone ans his wry preoccupation vith the phenomena of big-town nights. Muçh credit for the success of 'the poems IIlU!St go to 1êaring, who evolved and perfected the method, but even so Souster plays on hie borrowed instrument vith grace and genuine passion, SB in "Night of Rain".
(' , Rain on the streetsl make up :Tour poem about wet bougbs and gleamlng asphal ts And the sil ver sandalB of the rain; i t i.s still a
hell of a night, And the old men of Q\leen East will n.ot bUll any
cigarettes tonight on the sidewalks ••• 60
• E.K. Btown, however, does not so entirely rob Souster of credit in
developing a technique of bis ovn; he only mentions mat~r-of-factly that '1
.59 Raplond Bouster, The Colour of the Timea, Toronto, 1968, p. 1.5.
60 John Fred.rick NiIIa, "Five YoUllS Canadian Po.ta" in Poetg ! Mapzine Df Verae, Chicago, no VI, September 194.5, p. 338. J
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he is "of the tl'ibe of Kenneth Fearing, somevhat less witty, but vith a
vanner power in rendering the simple pleasures of the senses ..... " 61
We chooBe to Bid~]with Brown in th~ matter 'of Souster'B authenticity aB
ve find Nima' position too extreme.
We have known a1l along that Narrache made ample u,se of a h1lDlorous
"
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style of his own, in his poems, nevspap~r columns and lectures; but it was
a revelation to discover that Souster, ~y on the sober side, could
also "go on outrageous excursions into comedy" 62
One such excursion
took place at the amusement park vhere the Roller-Coaster decided to take
off and fly out to sea, b
... where the cucumber-cool
brakeman in the lœt Beat Baluted a lady ab. out to change from h~ bathing-suit. 63
Another such joyous excursion occurred over Lake Simcoe when a naughty
Rainbow played havoc vi th the local alderman,
Before the mayor could get to the phone to inform his councillors so a1l five could meet and declare i t illegal.
the rainbow bad said "why n~" and BUcked up -balf of Lake S coe,
q
61 E.K. Brown, 'Recent Poetry from Canada", in Poetrz,. ChiC880, no VI, March 1947, p. 349.
62 Anonymdus, "The Private World of Raymond Souaterlt , in!!!.!., June 12, 1964.
63 Raymond S01Ulter, The Co1our of the Timea 1 Toronto, 1968, p. 50.
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then after once around the horseshoe dropped it softly back in Lake Couohiehing. 64
1
After Soustep/ s ironie and saUrie mooda, thiB fun style ia pleaaant and
refre.ehing.
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In elosing this ehapter on, style and language,' we find one more
feature eommon to our two poets worth mentioning: namely they bot~"write
in BUeh\ a manner as ta be quoted easily or declaimW, as :fu the case of
Coderre on radio and Souater on VariOUB C.B.C. reeita~ons. Nime Beems to
share this opinion when he writes about SOUBt~,r' s poetry: "His poems are
weIl organized atructures, eB13y to quote ••• " 65 In any case, . we hope c
that Robert Fulford 1 a words, !lIt seems a p:i, ty that Torontonians hard.ly
66 know he iB there" are no longer true. Both 'poets, in tact, have been
thoroughly acknowledged as apokesmen for the ordinary man. They have long
deserved it. And they are valuable as recordera of Canadian life when it
was neither as affluent nor as teChnologieally advanced as it is now.
64
65
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Raymond Souste.r, The Colour of the Times, Toronto, 1968, p. 108. 1
John Fre~erick lfima, ''Five Young Canadian Poets" in poetrz A .ine of VerBe, Chicago, no VI, September 1945, p. 338.. >
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66 Robert Fulford, "On Raymond SOUBter~ A Good Toronto Poet Toronto Never Discovered", in Maclean 'e, no 8, April 18, 1964.
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CHAPTER III
THE CITY AS HABITAT OF MAN VIGNl!I1TES OF MANKJM)
NATURE AB HAVEN OR EQUThIBlUUM
l - THE CITY AS HABITAT OF MAN
The city is the aetting favored by Souster for a great nùmber of bis
poems. His "sordid ana wondroUB éity, ,Toronto", as Louie Dudek put it in
his introduction to an earlier Souster volume, inspires him with mixed
feelings of love and hate, much'as might a demanding, cruel mistre8s.
Sorne mysterioUB force keeps him bewitched by its malevolence. In "La Gare
Winœor", the POl!t recognizee the fooliahness of his love for Toronto but
he must ,yield to i t~ "tender fingera" even if they, be "treacheroua": ,..
And always the thought that the end of thë journey
/L}~ ia·Toronto and drabness, ' '<.:~s Toronto and i ts slow death
in wait there' to emother me.
o waiting to choke vith tend&r, treacherous !ingerel 67
The poet i8 C~CiOU8 of Ms ensnarelDent by t~, city. . ,~ He saya so in ''The
__ City called a' Queen":
67 Ra~ond Souster, Lost and Found, Toronto, 1968, p.- 15.
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strange City cold hateful city that l celebrate and love, while somewhere out there
, you are vorking at my death .. >,
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68
But he needs this love aIfair. Without it he could not have drawn sketches
of city life with such sharpness and poignancy. Out of his battle for
Burvival aB a man ~nst the city'e brutal force oame some of the best ~l .... } ."
poems he wrote. The city in the poet' s eyea and in the mindB of the j)eople '. '
he is aspokeemanfor, iS'''an endles8 maze",.avaJi,"an·~bstacle ta man's
realization of ~elf,
A blind man's valking up~the'vall though his cane .keepe teYiing him "no", a blind man's finally been trapped in the endless maze called the city •••
bùt~ vins over the city, rescued by the band of another who
leads him avay from that wall. 69
r>;'
The city, try as i t may, cannot erad1cate love completely - thie thought
recurs over and over again through Solister's city poems.
68
69
RaiDiond Souster, SO,Far So Good,~EngJ.and, 1961.
Raymond Souster, As le, Toronto, 1967, p. 34.
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Sometimes - the city wins over man struggling vi th i t, but only
o
temporarily. Consider' if you would, liA Christ on Yonge Street",
His back to Yonge Street he il! smashing both fists agsinat a valle But not bard enough to draw blood, 80 of course no one notices. 70
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'lie f~el that sOIIle understanding hand will come !orvard .... hen the man~Christ
rebellioua youth decides ta strike "bard enough to draw blood". His anger
or despair ia not yet deep'enough to attract càncern. The blind this time,
are the crowd orl Yonge Street, society itael! .... hich needs to be .... akened.
It is a pit Y tbat violence has'to'do it.
The poem which best portrays the relentleaB, all encompaeaing evil
force o! the ci~y defeated once more by love, ia, in our estimate, "50
~ .Easy ta Explain ". We quote i t in i ta enti,rety.
..
St!f'1easy to explain vby l !olloved him all the .... ay over to Bay Street just to be sure he found the bus terminal. ••• There for a moment as he stood helpless at Dundas and Yonge, blaze of noon slicing at his eyes still bandaged from the hospital •••
70, Ibid., tf. 76.
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. \ The stretched hand' of brotherhood is silently present ("I followed full)
here represented,as the city's enemy and the saviour of mano The poet
representing the city people whose voice he 1s, feels confident that when
his turn comeB for "darkness pusmng all around " he will hear a voice,
!eel. a band 0.0 as "sUllBhine" o ••
l was that man stan!,j.ing there ru ting for a voiee to speak, waiting for a band held out,
l was that bewildered man soaked in the sweat of my feer, BUllBhine striking at my face but blackness, darkness pushing all around 71
f
Souster encounters evil and malevolence net only in Toronto; Saint-John,
N.B., is net exempt from it as he notes 1t below,
Neitl;l.er is
.... 71 Ibid.,
72 Ibid.,
Doea that atench of poverty still linger too atrong for the gusts from the docks ta freshen? Is there still that uneasiness, that closeness to evil thar cornes at evening when shadoVB valk giant beneath t~.,> \&m!ps? 72
New York,
(,
t)
p. 27.
po 88.
•
•
• ' ..
., \
Acres of light you btfre me . High on your backdrops of night and darkness, Mountains of stone you leave me cold As your immovable etoneiron hearte, Droves of ecamperlng traffic you onl-y iI1;'i tate me \ii th yoUr mad daehes to no.Where wi th cargoes of nothing Armies of people, ,faces DQdies you fnghten me" \ii th the Ieper' e gleam of leath in your eyee and behind
the brain. 73
~ ,
The poet' e fear and hate ia tangible in theee lineei, the only defenee he
- 4-9
hae to offer againet the city'a cold impereonality and emptinese le hurling
invectives at it as he pretende he ie not touched.
In ''!'he Faces of the Crowd': the people are identified, wi th the city;
they are imperturbable in their thiret for a horror ahow. They are not'
human, the city ha.e conque,red them whoU,.,
Th~ facee of the crowd turn upward to the vindow where she jumped from.
T1leY vait for the eecond act, for eomeone elee to-make the big leap.
And each face, will show ite dieappo~ntment when i t doeen ft happen. 74
73 Raymond Souster, City Hall Street, Toronto, 1951, p. 4-. J
74- Raymond Sowster, So Far So Good" ~and, 1969 •
..
•
• o
-,
•
•
- 50
Coderre haB some of SOUl!lter's ambivalent attitude of love and hate
towards the city as habitat of man, but he expresses it much less vehement-
ly and a1ways from the underdog's point of view. With him the éity is a
malevolent, also implacable.. "lieu" 'beeming vi th enemies BUch as tbieves, , .. ;::«. ..
, . clever lawyers, high finance tycoons'all lurking in wait for the naive,
helpless li ttle people. In "Si j '''r.encontrais Diogène~', the poet advises
Diogene not to venture to St. James street in bis search for a man with
integrity, if he does not vtsh to be stripped of everything he owns: bis ,
lanterne
J'y dirais ben droit'c'4ue j'en pense Si j'le rencontrais dans l'quartier D'la Bourse et de la haut' finance, Parmi les agents, les courtiers:
"J'vas t' dir', mon vieux, sans t' fair' de peine, 'J;.e v'la dans l'pir' coin d'Montréal. Sauv'-toé d'icit'r pauvr' Diogène, Tu vas t' fair' voler ton fanal. 1 " 75
The city is also sean by Coderre 88 a stining p1.ace, in the exiguity of
the workers' homes, in "Soir d'été",
Dans les fonds d'cour, à gauche, à droite, Je r'marqu' 1.e8 famill' s d'ouvriers Qu'étouff'nt dans leurs maisons étroites, Assis dehors en train d'vei1.1.er. 76
75 Jean Narrache, J'par1.e tout seul. quand Jeap Narrache, p. 98
76 Ibid., p. 99.
•
•
•
Some stanzae of "Soir d'été" are remarkably similar to Souster' s "City
Hall Street" in language, images and preoccupations down to the seme
dirty washing, and inheri ted, cyclical poverty. Souster writes,
, "
In thiB 8weet court yard of dirt and amells and rot Children play, old men rock in their chairs, and women Hang out the ragged washing.e ~f' the week. And this goes on
Winter and summer, fail and spring, year a!'ter year Children playing\ old men rocking, women va13hing Only i t is other children who p-lay, other old men who sit in their chairs, other women hanging out clothes. 77
Consider now Coderre's stanza, ('
:,W l'
J'long' les rues ousque sont tassés tout's nos masur's de pauvres gens, notr' rue qui pue la !ricassée, le ling' sale et pis l' manqu' d'argent.
C'est l'quartier des quêteux d'naissance ~ sont v'nus au mond' tout ratés, Des gaa comm' moé qu'ont pas eu d'chance Et pis qu' la vie a pas gâtés. 78
~
Sometimes Coderre sees the city as a\place of exile tram a better
-51
place, the country. The alienation of man !rom bis natural habitat although
Cl self-imposed because of life's circumstances, crestes countless frustrations
in bim. By reacUon" his !avourite dream 18 ta leave the city,-- the minute
77 RBlMond Souster, City Hall Street, p. 4.
78 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean Narrache, p. 99.
•
•
- 52
his lot ~proves. The city of Coderre more than that of Souster produces
this psycho1ogical tug-of-war in the individual, possib1y because in
Q
Coderre's time more country exiles had recently come to the city in search
of emp10yment and a better lire." In ":Les Regrets", the poet reminisc~s o
about the country he 1eft behind and regrets openly bis move to the city,
in the final lines,
l ~ vient toujours un temps qu' la ville Avec ses joies puis son tr~-train, Ça nous fatigue ••• et ori s'défi1el On rêv' d'un' plac' ousqu'y'a moins d'train.
. . .r"
On rêvaBe'd'la p'tit' maison blanche Aux mura grisâtr'..t!f et poussiéreux, Avec Bon toit d'bardeaux qui penche, La p'tit maison d'nos jours heureux.
1:'1
On rêvaBs' de notr' p'tit village D'ousqu'on aurait pas dû partir. 79
Souster's city of Toronto is not a vaiting place for its immigrants; they
are tar too buey making i't against enormous odds to look back. They have
courapoualy undertaken "the exile and are determ1ned to stay, to "s."a1~ow
their pride" and "malte themse1 ves over" in order to be accepted by the ci t~ ,
.. in "The Immigrant", whose isolation in the firet stanza is diBturbing1y
palpable, and, the courage in the second 1e nothiÎlg but heroic.
79 Ibid., p. 103 et p. 104 •
l
•
•
•
Each face haB two ears tuned-up des! to catch each stumble of my speech, two eyebrows to lift at the clothing l wear, two lips to form a sneer at the house where l live •
... for l must BwalloW my pride to ape everything they do, somehow make myself over into one of them, or end up a nothingness. 80
- 53
Souster sees in the city but a thoughtless wrecker of history, of the paet, o
in thé name of progressj though the city is not quite BucceBBful in des-
troying everything, as he says in "Noboay'B "rold th'e Birdsll and the "song
will gOI on forever".
Nobody's told the birds that this house bas been sold to the wreckers,
... as the bulldozer panzers level off stubborn stone to a joyless rubble.
Nobody's told the birds so they sing on day after day and no doubt will be singi ng the hour that the crowbars pierce their laet brick, that the bulldozer cuts its hacking couth.
Nobody's told the birds, so that song viJ..l go on forever. 81 '
80 Raymond Souster, As ra, p. 55.
81. Ibid. , p. 41.
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•
•
•
or again in "Demolition", the "old ghosts" have "tvo more clays of grace"
at least before the vrecking is accomplished.
"r Giving any old ghosts tvo more days of grace ta ascend, descend, then clear out forever. 82
\,
-,54
In "The Wreckers", the city inspires ~eelingS of pure hate and cold
revenge as the city mercenaries are demolishing "the old building".
No doubt they knev the old building hated them and each move against' her only made the hate greater; a hate lying quietly by, hoping by trick or chance to take one of them along to death vith her. 83
Coderre' alBo looks at the city as a wrecker, but a vrecker'of human
dre8.lll8. In "Soir d'été", the couple described haa no hope, ·.n6 love. They
are wrecks. The ~ity haa succeeded here.
La geul' serrée, l 'homm' pis la femme R'gard'nt, sans rien dir', dormir le p'tit. D'quoi, qu'i'parl'raient? Chacun s'renferme Dans l'silenc' d'un rêve abruti.
S'parl~r d'amour? S'fair' des tendresses? Y'a ben longtemps qu'ça leur dit plus. Tous les espoirs de leur jeunesse, Ça fait un'mèch' qu'il sont foutus. 84
Ibid., p- 9.5.
83 lùQmond Souater, The Colour of the Times, p • .51 •
84 Jean Rarrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean Rarrache, p. 100. ft
l '4
r 1--0-- ---- --- - - --- ----___ t)
•
•
•
V \
-'5 Coderre however cannot besin to rival Sousterfs description of sheer
, sordidness in the city. His "Soir d'hiver dans la rue Sainte-Catherine"
does not come near Souster' s "Night Town" in intense realistic expression.
Coderre describes his city as a buatling, dirty, depersonalizing place,
just bearable somehow because he notes that the despair of sorne ls balanced
by the happiness of others.
(}
A soir, sur la rue St'-Cath'rine, Tout l' mond.' patauge.. et IJU..is s' débat En s'bousculant d 'vant les vitrines, :r..es pieds dans d' la neig' chocol at.
La foule, ell', c'est comme un'marée Qui moutonne en se j 'tant partout Comme un troupeau d'bêt's épeurées Que tout l'tapage a rendu fou.
Ils sont heureux 1 • •• Ca vaut la peine D'arrêter d'marcher pour les voir. Ils sont heureux dans la rue pleine De gens qu'ont l'air àU désespoit' 1 85
Souster's ''Night Town" bas a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dual personality.
Under the cover of night i ts real self,
the fUth, the stink, is !ot'gotten, vhat the seliers run with, what the liospital.e throw
in the garbage, what the stocky"ard breathes,
becomes a faggoted, has-been street walker until the time
85 Ibid., p. 19.
C'
• ,.
\' 'lot ...
N,
'.
•
when the davn comes, ) vhen the sun breaks up, when the light blind!r-wi th i ts accusation. 86 .. ' ~,.,. '"
-56
Its hypocrisy is then exposed and it goes back to its ugly self of cravly
"ferret eyes from the cellars". There is no t-eal happiness to redeem the
BordidnesB here. Only fake, and that redeema nothing.
-. .l!, ~,
,\- .. ,. ," op ~~"-Jl Both our poets think of the city as a good habitat for the young:
the children and the lovers. In "Spring N1gh.t", the young and the lovers
move at ease in their city habitat,
The kids in the parka, pound their baseball gloves to get the pocket double-plays, grandstand catches are made of. In the streetB the old eye the lovers; but these eye only each other, valking so closely together tneir bodies are the Bame fiooding river. 87
Coderre agreea ent1rely about the city being fun as a place to live in for
the young. He saya,
Je'1.'sais ben, on aim'ça" la ville, Quahd on est jeun 1 pui.s plein d'entrain. C'est si gai quand la foul' défile A travers l'brouhaha puis l'train.
Et puis quand on a notr' jeunesse, Me sambl t ' que tout nous appartient ••• Ouit être ,j-eun', c'est toute un'riche88e;
86 Raymond Souater, The CololN- of the Tilles, p. 3 •
87 Ibid.; p. 44. ,
88
88 Jean N~ache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean Karrache, p. lœ.
\)
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Lovers also are not bothtfred by tl\,e city: they are perjectly atuned to i ta
lUe force. They do not fear it, being strong t!lemselvea,
Y'a ben des jeun's coupl's qui s'promènent, Bras des8us, bras d'ssous, d'lm air heureux. 89
Occasionally, Souster's city, to our surprise, even becomes a friendly
place to live in as it smiles protectingl,y at its strol1ers,
As you walk deep into night feel how trees are leaning over to watch you on your way.
rts inhabitants are attentive and generous in the senae tbat, o
rts
89
90
street
~l~
all lighted houses stand ready, that each one waits
'your firm knock on the door.
lights also enter the benev;)lent'
(~, ~ '-" ... each street light plays
at being the ul timate and 1 all too solemn moon. ,. 90
~ #
i.
Ibid., p. 20 •
Raymond Souster, AIJ Isz ,p. 14.
game and,
• " ' 0'
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'. 1 ~J) ~ ............ ~,,~
Coderre's ~ity Blso camouflages its 80rdidnesB with the moon's soft
effects, thua becoming a friendlier habitat, ,J
Et sur c'tableau piein d'vie réelle Du bonheur simpl' d,Ù travailleur, Entre les cord's à l~ng' d'la ruelle La lun' qui s'lèv', jet'sa lueur. 91
lie 'Would like to close this section of our palter on the city as a Habitat
for Man with the unforgettable tableau Souster haB given in one poem of
beings feeling at ease in the city world. This ia "Dominion Square", in
which "the policeman in the white cape", directing traffic off Dominion
Squarè, the two lovers who are "part of the night ••• unaware ••• ", and the
poet reconciled vith the city, enjoying creature comforta in the "tavern's
W'8.I'III heart", all move in fte city of Souater' s vision:
They wouldn' t understand my haste in getting out of the rain, in leaving this cold W'ind-blo'Wing night for. the tavern' 8
warm heart, for its hot steaming food, much beer, and the aubtle music of the vio~in: they aeem almost part of the rain like the policeman in the white cape, white rubber
boota to the thighs, l'; who standa iD. the centre of the traffic and directa vith a aure band; the,. seem almost \part
of the ni~t, 1
these two lovera, :,'; vi th their slow linge ring stepe, thelr total linawareness. of everything in this city but their love, their s~rensth, the honest lust in their bodies touching as they walk acrosa the Square ••• 92
91 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean:~Narrache, p. 101 •
92 Raymond Souster, The Colaur of the Times, p. 8.
.'
"
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II - \1!GNE'PrES OF MANKIND
The vignettes of mankind drawn by our two poets are mastly of the
li ttle people, men and 'Women and ehildren going through the motions of
every day living. Souster ia witHout a doubt, the more prolific of the
two in his output---- of human sketches, ainee he haB gone ferreting into ,-
- 59
more types of mankind then any other Canadian poet. However, both Soùster J ,\ and Coderre have del-H~ated lovingly and at length one eharaeter they have
" in common: . tl}.e bum. Souster' s bum would seem ~o be more vicio,us and degra-" '
ded than Coderre' B helyless innocent "gueux". '.;!n "The Proposition", Sous-
ter lets us Bee a drunk man "without pride, vithout honour, wit~out any
thing at all" who h.a..s offered "the use of bis body" 93 , in exchange for
cigarettes. Tbis sketch leaves the reader vith a feeling of disgust towards
the pervert figure in the poem. Luckily for us, all Souster's bume are nat
such crude figures. His "Wina" attracts our sympathy for hia weakness toward
the bottle ·~d ms total indifference ta "the rest of the vorld",
the drunkest man in all Montreal, man wi thout any past, present, future, any hope, ••• 94
=
But he is not degenerate like bis predeceaaor. He 1a primar11y a very s1ck
man. 'l:rSouster' s ''Beggar'' comes closest t,a Coderre 1 s "gueux", but still does
./
93 Raymond SOU8ter, Lost and Found, p. 71.
q9~ ~, p. 78.
•
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not match, it in simplicitYi he bas a touch of far-east myst~ry about him, --', ,-{
Sitting in the sun, pl~ying almost to himself on a child's mouth organ
Resigned, • J
courageous, oblivious wl4.ch? 95
1;
" . .'
'0
•
One further point of difference in the two poets' portrayal of the hum can
60
be maqe here: Souster describes lP-s beggars ~ talks about them, while
éOderr~ himselt:, dir~ctly by identifying with the "gueux" an4 making
him talk about himself in the first person. A warmer relationship is thus
established· between the poet and his audience who feels part of the dialogue~. , "
1
in that othey are spoken to. The empathy,is closer for the reader in "J'rest' .. ~o
vagabond" than i t is wi th any of Souster ,os vagabond poems. Thua the happy-"
go-lucky "clochard" ih coaerre nonchalantly ~ts his views on work and· .. earthle ~elongings and life in general:
95
96
~ Travailler, c'est tout c'que ça donne plus on s'éreinte et moins on dort; plus on s'démèn' puis s'époumone, plus vite on s'en va chez l'croqu'-morts •
'" J'laisse aux autr's leurs rêv's de richeBBej j'prends dana la vie tout c'qu'elle a,d'bon. Que ceux qui veul' nt .e fass' nt d' la graisse, j t Bll'is ben comm' ;f' suis, j' ,l'est' vagabond J 96
, '~
Ibid., p. 70. t
If' ,..
• Jean Narrache; J~parle toUt Beul quand Jean Narrache, p ... 115 •. The vagabondcreated b;r Narrache be10np in 1jhe same olus ae thoae <
oreated by Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin (L!melight), Popov, Guil.ttâ ~ "f .;, "--1
•
"
•
•
~.
•
,~, .~
, .
,1
o
This man is ~ vagabond by choice, a somewhat romantic figure, envied ~
secretely by those who do not have the courage to bre~ out of their
~:. fetters. The ''kid on the corner of Queen and Church" in Souster 1 s
ù.
"Hallelujah" shows the same carefree "insouciance", when he goes,
half-chanting all the time "Hallelujah, l 'm a bum".
"Is ~hat so bad?" he wants to know wi th a twinkle in his eye. 97
(. ,
\~et another vignette of man in the city favored by the two poets is that
- 61
of the economic underdog - the lucklesa one - the unemployed, not a beggar
by choice but a beggar who ie a victim of the "system". "It 1 a Ume" con-
tainB one BUch unwilling be~,
This man Yonge and College, that hels forced ta byg fo~ a meal, that he has to aak strangers, that here he must svallow bis last bi~e of pride, that he'a almost ready to cry out for pit y, that any man bas to do t~ thing J
-Massina (La strada), Ili.cardo Billi (F.ell1ni' s clowns), -Red SkeltoD. (Freddie the"Free Loader) and the lateat arri,!al: Pavel Kohout (Auguste,
, Auguste, Auguste) created in 1967 in Prague. 0
<.
'~~'97 "Raymond Souster, tost 'and Frund, p. 95. " \
' ..
".
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'(
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•
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Governments churcb,es, institutions . you have crumbled you are nothing in my eyes. 98
Coderre also writes a realistic picture of the underdog as the joblesB
head "of a family,
C' pas étonnant qu' i" ait pus d' courage 1 Pus d'painl pus d'charbon! pus un Boul Y'a pas moyen d'trouver d'ouvr~1 Y'a beau chercher tout partout. 99
'\
Or ag8.in the "gueux" address,ing his diacarded old shoes, worn thin
from walking day in, day out, in search of emplo~ent.
Voua v'la finies! Q'pas qu'ça m'arrange, Va ben falloir que j'march' nu-pieds. Mais il faut que j'vo~ jette aux vidanges, Vos s'mell's sont pus rien qu'du papier.
J' dis pas que j', voua ri ménagées A marcher du matin au soir Pour m'chercher d'la vache enragée On'n'a~ti'battu des trottoirs! 100
• 0
?9 Jean Narrache J'parle tout ~eul quànd Jean Narrache, p. 120.
100 Ib~d., p. 59. ~e same picture of a vagabond's travel-worn shoes was borrowed by Félix Leclerc a few years later and ït launched him on a success career as a songwri ter wi th, ''Moi, mes souliers ont beaucoup vOlagé" •
•
• \
•
•
- 63
As we can see, both poets focus attention on the diminished figure of man
crushed by Canada' s unfortunate recurring scourge: unemployment.
There is another class of little people that SOUBter though not
Coderre likes to linger on: the routine figure.
Among these SOUBter's portrait of salesclerks is precise and incisive.
He makes us conscioUB of their courage and their fatigue; he does so with a
couple of lines only. His economy oI words is remarkable in:
l picture patient clerke behind counters walking on what they can' t believe are feet 101 . ,
and again in,
Above all, remember each smell, each sensation this hotQday offers you, how ,these people sveat to p1ease. 102
The last 1ine in two strokes of the brush brings ta life the marveloUB
market people forced ta take advantage of the short snmmer monthe ta make
their money, in spite of extreme heat.
101 Raymond Souste,r, As Is , p. li.
~02 Ibid., p. 15.
...
..
-~-----~--- ---- ----
•
•
•
•
- 64 J
/
retaina Souster's' sympathetic glance: he is
the commuter business man caught inexorably in a dull mesh of repetitive
gestures enacted by thousanda of suburbians like himself. ''Evening in
the Suburbs" ls frighteningly real,
Around aix he arrives from a hard day at the office bis dog greets him he sits down his wife si ta down hie children sit down even his dog sits down and they eat supper 103
The enumerative style goes on and on until ve feel the persona must break
down. And he does. Futile, cbildish gesturea of violent tantrums cleanse
him temporarily and allow him to stand yet more routine,
. Then he feels better he feels good again sits down in his chair falls asleëp like a child. 104
Souster :feels a ''kinship'' towards office workers who atone for the "long
empty hours of their lives" by maki Dg love, "Afte~ Dark" ,
103
{,
l feel kinship, like brother and suter, for these young "bodies spravled tonight in the lie
of their lo-mg, " legs curled, soft ,roundness of thei'"-sveet tor:ture that transforma them, that pushes them aboVie
) l'
\:'
Raymond Souster, The Colour of the Times, p. 45.
104 Ibid. '. lb 45. ~~. 1 - -
d
•
•
• .)
~ ... , '9 h.,
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work at the office, banal situations, long empty hours of their lives. 105
Then Souster has, popping here and there in bis work, the pathetic figure
of a drunk, or a disabled persan scratching a meagre pittance by practising
menial little trades - such as selling shoe-laces, flowers or penclls:
Or,
a man who stands mind blank to perfumed amours, cabarets, week-ends all our carefully-planned c1vilized dellghts, holding a box of shoe-1aces in unendinly shaking bands. 106 ,
.:;
The man ~elling flower~ outeide Child'~ haB the nervous, shiftl.ng eyes of the hunted. ,107
Or again, the "Seller of Pencila" -with his,
105 Ibid.,
106 Ibid.,
107 Ibid· z
108 Ibid.,
. - \ ," ""'II
I~
Stumps for legs shrivelled arma, .~ curiously puffed-out chest,
>'the over-large hand.e holding up the cap with its co1oured pencils.
A grotesque thought ••• 108
p. 27. ~
" . p. 4.
,p • 10.
p • 58.
C
... ~~ - - - ------ - ~ ~ - ------ -~ -- -~ ~ ~---
•
•
• '
-"':
- 66 .'-
'-
1 and a diBturbing.one until we ,think tbat·the humble services these people
render flush them out of their loneliness. Souster bas ~ long array of
vignettes, vhich çome alive vith a minimum of vorda in "The Song" (a laundn-)
man), "Ten P.M." Ca dishvasher), "The Jazzman", "The Newspaper Boy" and 150
many more ve cannot mention in this paper for lack of space. Perbaps
Souster as he- sa:ya of himself, does have "too much pi ty to vaste on the
, 109 people of this earth" • In his attentive attitude tovards the humble , -
, i~ general he haB affini~ieB vith Coderrej but in bis sharpness ofpercep-
tion and hie ~epiction of such a great number of types, he stands qui te apart.
Coderre really lumped all bis little people in categories, namely, the
_"gueux", the unemployed, the "gens d'la haut'" dominated by politicians,
and women. We have previously dealt with'the first tvo categories; ve
would like now to examine and compare by turns how each' of our two poets
sees the laat tvo: poli ticians and vomen.
Coderre has no respect for polit~ci~ whom he accuses of ~atronage,
a familiar way of life for public figures in Quebec if one is ta place any
credenèe on newspapers at election mud-slinging time. Comparing hiB dis-
comfort and that of other sardine-like bus passengers ta the IUX11I7 of unsCrtl-
.' puloue aldermen driving comfortably b,., he writes quite bitterl,. in "NOB
Autobus",
109 Raymond Souster, Lost and Found, p. 42 •
..
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•
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o
Des gens à qui ça caus' pas d'bile, C'est un bon lot 'd'nos échevins Qui roul'nt dans leur automobile P' t' -êtr' payée avec des pots d' vin .
On est rien qu'des contribuables, , Des pauvr's imbécil's de payants, Des électeurs et des taxables; On perdrait notr' temps en braillant. 110
~ ''Prospérité'', he criticizes the ignorance, the dishone'sty ançl total
inertia of many of our,statesmen,
Nos homm's d'état sont des génies qui parl'nt à travers léur chapeau au Conseil des Nations Unies
,
tandis qu'notr' ar~nt coule à nots. J
Leur faut un'nuée d'secrétaires, . d' sous-seerétair' s et d' autI\' s commis pour s'tourner les poue's à ne rien faire et s'prom'ner aux frais du pays. III
1
In "Adieu, mes vieilles bpttinestl , while recognizing the servi.ees • J
- 67
rendered by his old shoes, he can not resist throwing a sarcastic barb at
politicians by referring ta the "mud" common to.bath,
" V6US m'avez ben servi, j'l'avoue! Pour m' protéger calDme des bons chiens, Vous' avez marché dans la boue Presqu'autant qu'un politicien. 112
a
~1.l0 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout Beul quand Jean Narrache, p. 40 •
III il Ibid., p. 51. ,
l12 Ibid., p. 59.
.. -~-~ ---~--t 'f" ,
1 "
!
•
•
••
- 68
But it ie in "Je. poee ma candidature" that Coderre lete fiy all hie ran-
cour and seorn at politi,e1ana. Hére he lista the requirements for getting /"1' .. '
elected, and t~l1e ua what he would do, i~ he vere in power: cH
J'saia si\' bien qu'pour me faire élire j'ai pas besoin d'êtr' ben futé. • • • Faudra que j 'r,agne à la barbot te 1
Vu qu' faut du whit:ky puis d' l'argent Pour pouvoir m'ach'ter assez d'votee; Des cabaleurs, c'est exigeant.
, ,
Un'fois élu, j'm'la coul'rai douce Comm' tout bon membr' du parlement. J'm'éreint'rai à m'tourner les poucee Pour supporter l'gouvernement. 113
• <
Souster's Senator ie remarkably similar to Coderre'a politician in
that he ia a smilingly stupid and perfeetly uselesa puppet figure, ma-
noeuvered by four villing p'aire of bands,
at the Windsor Station.
~d ail that evening while the train roared and snorted like an angry thing,
. he drank our rye, told dirty jakes, folloved the women with bis beady ey8s.
Then :teappeared aH smilea the next morning to expound,the virtuee of coneti tutional go?ernment balf through New Brunswick.
-11,} Ibid.· .. p. 117 •
114
u4 ~ond Souster, The Colour of the Times, p. _26.
o G
,1
-~--- ------- ---- -- - -- - J ,'j,~ .. _ __________ _
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•
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- 69
Far from stupid ie his "Mini.ster of Defence" who 1 iB shown to be machiae--',
velian and sardonically hypocritical, ..
That amazirig man the Miniater of Defencel Sm:Ues so impishly from behind his thiek glass es
that ail this business • of A-bombs and missiles , seems hardly more important
than the eeil1ng priee of hogs or the lat est irregularity of a million or 80
on a ~vernment contract. 115
In short, "le gouvernement", the government, is ta our two poets an ,
l,lIlavoidable but neeessary evil, much as it is nowadays to most taxpayers.
!ts body of men beeome enemies, once elected by the taxpayers. '- We have
searched :4t vain for a kind ward abOut poli ticia.n.s or the government in"
these two authors. It seems there is none to be found. Consequently,
the sketches they have drawn of politiciana are wi thout exception of the
stupid, conniving and crooked types. The correlation between Coderre and
Souster here is perf~ct.
We cannat say as much of their sketches of women. We ~ve '\lever
met tih-y two men of the srune half-century so completely Ijlt odda on the sub-;~ -
ject. Caderre almost always puts his women figures on a pedestal. The
115 Raymond S'oustez:, Los~ and Found, p. 90 •
Q
•
•
• -------- -'
- 70
mother figure is the keeper of the faith, the righteous example to follow,
in "La Messe de Minuit".
Nous autr's on prie comm' nos vieill's mères, On gard' la foi du bon vieux temps. 116
Then, he has the Mater Dolorosa type of mother who had the misfortune of
losing her young one, poth victims of the system, in "En regardant la lu-
ne": '
, Y'a-ti, ben des enfants qui meurent faut' d' argent pour en avoir soin? Et pis des pauvres mèr's qui pleurent En r'gardant l'ber qu'est vid' dana l'coin? li7
And again, we find the same weeping long-suff'ering image of woman the ma
~ ther in "Médi tat ions sur l' hiver", where she is prevented from fulfilling
her role of food-giver, because the husband is unemployed,
Y'a des pauvr's z'enfants qui ~lottent Pis qui s'couch'nt, le soir, sans manger, Des mèr' s de fami11' qui sanglottent Quant IJmari rentr' découragé. 118 --?
In "Soir d'été", she is a discoura.ged victim of repeated pregnancies, in .)
o -,
,116 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout s,fUl quand Jean Narrache, p. 129.
117 Ibid., p. 122.
li8 Ibid., p. 120.
\. r
•
•
•
•
a condition of endless misery,
••• Elle, a s'voit encore en famille, Dans la misère a pus finir; Ell' pense au lavage, aux guenilles, Pis ell' s'demand' c('qu'i'vont d'venir. 1198
Q
-71
~n, in ''Nos P' tit' s Mères", bis sympathy for the hardships heaped upm
the :o.rdinary housewife-mother knOWB no bounds as she goes about p~g
c ~
her numeroUB roles of moral booster, careful shopper, nurse and seamstress.
" " In her "par'1a" condition, mink coats, travel, vacations, even strikes, are
out of reach. 1
J'trouv' quteIl'mèn' un' vie d'parias.
C'est pas pour e11' les grands voyages; C'pas pour ell' les manteaux d'vison~
Elle, eIl' pens' pas à s'mettre en grève ••• Puis, quand eIl' crève, c'est sa premièr' chanc' d'arrêter.
Coderre concludes hiB long tribute in tbia fantastic sketch of a mother
by exhorting everyone to worship her;
A moins d'êtr' sans coèUr, pré misèrel faut ,1'adoreF à deux 'genouxl 12<i>
1
119 Ibid., p.,,99.
120 Ipid., p. 9'. '
• ,
s
....
•
- 72
The pedestal-hoisting is complete: and as he deacribea her, she certainly
deserves it. Woman iB also a victim of the d:ru.llk,enness of her husband,
who ~eB pqday a nightmare j thus, in "Soulographie",
(k',p. .. Ah. l' jour d'la pay' pour nos pauvr,'r:&~ femmes c'était ben l'jour du désespoirl c' Tout'la journée, ell's s'rongeaient l'âme. D'penser qu'on rentrerait aaoût l'soir. 121
Finally, woman is portraye~ at the peak ot her glory, clqthed with all the
worthwhile quali HeB: she iB no leBS tham. a saint in ''Prière à Saint-
Antoine". ';
1 Fait's ça pour ma vieille, elle'c't'un'sainte: C'est bon comm' la vie, c'est ben court. C'est travaillant à toute éreinte, C'est toujours gaie, jamais de,r'bours. l22
''Ma vieill'" encountered in nberoUB Coderre poems ia Olle of the dearest J
and sweetest appe~lationa givén to women, popular still with French-Canadian . ~.: '.'
hus'bands when talking to or ab0't2.~-their,-Wiy~a~f they love them. Most û ,
women who Marit the title, appreciate it fully. Those who resent it, un-
fortunately do not understand it~ meaning. Wherever Coderre ia, the figure
of "ma vieill'" is not far behind •
'0 u
p. 81.
,-___ ;,;..1.. p ... 72 •
.-----... ! \
• 0
J ,
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•
,'-,
.,)
•
73
?oderre, throws an amused glance towardB the 1B;iu and e~ptY-head~ woman, but i t 'Would Beem only ~ an afterthought.. She iB not con'temptible,
"only ridiculo~.
Tout c'mond'-là, c'est v'nu à la meBse Comme à l'ouverture d'l'Op~ra. Les femm's vienn'nt montrer leu Leu'toilett's n~~v's et cettera
richesses, 123
" l
Unimportant also is the fake charity 'Woman, hypocritical in her reaction
~o child misery as e.xposed in "Les Deux Orphelines" posing at the theatre:
Dans les l~g's, y'avait un' gross'dame qu'avait ~'air d'être au désespoir. J
C'
But in real life, when ~olicited for charity, thé' sarne hgross' dam'" "
threatens the children who are begging for a fe'W pennies with the police,
(7 \ 123 Ibid.,
B
1240 Ibid. ,
La chari té, s'oua pIaf. t, madame 1 d'un' voix qui faisait Iné\l au coeur •
. Au lieu d'leu donner, la gross' femme o leur répond du haut d'sa grandeur: .
"Allez-vous-en, mes p' tit 1 s voleuses! Vous avez pas hont' de quêter! Si vous vous Bauvez pas, mes geuses, moé, j' m'en vais vous fJtire arrêter! t' • ]24
p. 129.
p. 110. -' u 0
-- -~ ---------
f} , ()
---~--~--
•
• '.
r ,j
,-'.
, ~ " ... '" ...
--74
,
'. ~~en the ~ight-club ~in~~!~~ not degr~1ed~in,Cod~rre's mind. She
has the beneficent • ) "'.. -- '# \
W?rna.z:1t quality of ~elaxing tenae businessmen '!{ith her
.. fil "risqué" uSonga, ---1
..
La chanteuse eat dépoitrai~1ée, Sea couplets sont pas mal ~alauds, M~B ça fa:it-~r un'veillée -Sans penser aüx troubles.du b~eau. 125
We "compléte Coderre' s pre13entationr of women Wi th the peaceful image of the "
" ,r.eaJ. w,man 'tenderl~ and anxiously aWai~ her ·man's return: ,the 6ec~et envy
of Ibnely bachelprs, 'the regret of widowers and the dre~ of most.mature
men, -,
-.
+'"
-"Quiens! Ecout', c'est. ta vieill' quf' ch~te j Ell't' guett' su' Bon perron là-bas. J't'assur' qu'ell' va êtr' ben contente, Ell' 'avait 'peur que tu vienn' s pas.. 126
\,
So~ter d~es nat have the sarne serene appfoach to women: he is very
~nconsistent in bis feelings towards them. He worships them, hate13 them, <!
fears ~hem and USJs the~., They may be goddesses, grotepque repulsi v~ figurès, • ,,~~ ft
s~ o~jecta and ~rue lovers. Above all, they must not be old (but more .. If. qf that ,in Chapter IV). He respects the working woman, especi~y the one . /
\ ren~eting a simple sèrvice qr geing about 1 everyday housewifely chores •
•
125 Ibid. , p. 21.
l26 Ibid. , p. ',63. \ 'r,
,\ \
) Il
, , ) ,
•
•
•
:, , l
J •
• The career lady does not enter Soust~r's gallery of women, but t~
~aitress, the ~oUBewife, the mother do. This ia qui te a eontraat wi th
Coder~e, whose' mother figure is almost the only one, sinee true \0 bis
generation of Quebec maaculin,e thinking, he never haa his women working
~ outside the home.
- 75
SOUBtel".' s "Milk Chocolate Girl" is a deligb:t!ully yummy description 'J:~~}r\~
of joy-giving(~oman whom he appreci~tes,
••• you're still very mut::h in one piece, to light up the darkness, of this lunch hour 'for ua
, wi th a turn of your head a 'flash from yrur eyes. 127
• , ., ,
1lis "'Mad~nna of the Lune:Q. 'Counter" ls in the Bame vein of admiration, the
girl's freshness standing out in eontrast, in stanza 2:
127
128
Such a,small girl's face, such delicate handa
\
te be servins coffee at the quick-Iunch couh~erl
.... {\. What -ar~ you dolng , > among toothless womenj your freshness smeared by piles of stained' dishes? l28"
Raymond ~uater, Raymond so~ter,
'. 1
As, !S, p. 37. 1
So Far Sa Good •
, 1
/
\
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(
..
/ /
!
•
•
•
c,
Q
It is appropriate at this point to note that Sous ter doea not
extend bis admiratiort to all wocien-waitresses as a matter of coursè, but
only to the young and pretty ones. The "sharp-nosed waitress" in "The
Degradation" inspires him with white rage. He wOlÙd like to avenge the
hen-pecked, cowering male specimen whom she belabors behind the lunch
counter,
1
And I want' to stand up,
" , . , 1
to strangle this bitch witli my bands. 129
Î
fit
- 76
It is a cluldish, \mreasonable male reaction, of piacing the odium of the ",
drunk' s d,egradation on the woman' s shoulders. "A Picker of Dandelions" •
represents the pleasure-giving side of women as provider of food, a surpri-
sing pastoral picture in the heart of the city. It also introduces us to
the immigrant lady' s thrifty custom of making use of nature th~roughly.
We learn from her.
Almost, unnSt4-ced because the street jogs madiy here,
, .. middle-aged woman heavy-coated to keep out t~e heat:
band plucking golden heads to drop them lovingly 4nto a paper shopping bag.
This will bring happiness lllù.ch, later -,,,"
129 Ibid.
, ,
•
fi
•
•
•• J . ~ ....
with the jayous bottles of gloom - heavy winter.
Souster has an image of bis,
Grandmother '
130
, lifting the done-to-perfection bird grease-dripping from the pan. 131
.,
- 77
Although the bird steals tne show somewhat, the Grandmother figure ia behL~d-
the-scenes as food-giver. The mother figure is definitely not glorified in
Souster's sketches; ane has ta be very attentive to spot even ita presence.
Fore instance, in "On the Rouge"
mother lrldden in a hat of fifty years aga 132
• i is only a passive little speck in the tableau, dwarfed by the father actively . , dominating the scenery. The moat' syrilpathetic p1cture of a "mother" in SOUB-
.ter 1 fJ poetry 1s the Cf'.t in his poem "The Mother". Bere the cat ia the mother
for whom he il/ very Bollici tous as he, cautions her aga1nJ:;t drunk. sailora , 1 '
and whores:
Be care~, mother, t:Q.eir boota are shary and they have too 1itt1e for even their ov.d kind.
. 130 Raymond Souster, As ra 1 Pr 46 •
" love. 133
1 , ,
• 0/
" " 131, Ipid.; p. 10.
132 Ibid., p. 21.
133 ~ond Souster, ~ golour ot the :r:f...!ea, p. 29. \ . \ .... ' ,
•
•
'.' ....
(. J ., J
- 78
If S,oUBte.t:,,~escribes a mother a~ all, 5he is portrayed as ~tural, a child
beater, a dried-up sick creattire, or crudely, " a banging ti t", an extreme
contrast to Coderre's kind~ generoUB figures.
she once girl-beautiful, now with the care-lines branching her face, figure turned shapeless as her lire, brooding on the 'four lost children, beating the two live on es to atone for it. 134
(
Or, again, SOUBter is embarrassed by the mothef, performins- her nursing
dut Y ,
, '" •• ~ tne new baby cries c
the young mother bares her breast ~o feed the greedy monster
But my sha.Jne coming on you in the kitchen unprepared for the. great hanging tH, the suckling infant. 135
'R~ recoils from this image immortali~ed by artiste, aS did (and possibly ~*' . ~.till do) mOBt of us Canadiana a few years back. \~The realistic image of the
-""
"great hanging tit" vi th the bovirie suggestion ls not t"éconcil.
us wi th the mothe~ i-igure or enhance her imase.
,?
135 Raymond Souster, Lost and Found, p. 102.
, , .
•
• rI'
(
-79
. ~~ " Women have no right to De in Souster's world. If Nature has made
them sa th~y are damned, and. he experiences a sense of shame for his
natural repulsion towards,
1
Each separate oozing sore
••• beauty slowly crushed by relentless ugliness •••
But the eyes are chicken , and partIy betray you. And i ta' ao much easier to turn awa:y, you!' ahame greater than her sltame. 136
Souster is il1 at ease as much on account of t~e acne-covered face as the
inferiority complex engendered'by it in the girl. His vignettes of ugly
women, though haunting with their realism, exude Bome be1pIeas sympathy,
by conceding that there was beauty in a potential" atate i.q the girl' s face
"
before the acne set in. And pUy tnere ia for the prost;l.tute, "The Girl
in the Gumbo".
1 (.
because l can' t atand to look any more at your face, t~t proud , bravado of a look that almoat conceala the way;"J. l think you7 d aimply Iike to cry, head buried deep in your arma. 137'
/
•
Hia sketch of the sex object woman ia cringI1,amus.ingj he has picked up
fi " the "joie de vivre" of the girl who obviously enjoys what she does:
, ' 136 Raymond Souster, The Colour of the Times, p. 37.
137 Raymond Souster, .so Far So ao&l. / IL
\.
•
•
,
'. ,
we tUI'l! our eyes (to save something of the evening) to" the white-encased wonder of the cigarette girl's bottom,
which really swings the more we watch it, to a jazz beat all i ts own, Go, Katie, go L 138
This imagé of escape from reality into Katiels world of fun and <sex is a
blessing to the poet and to mankind. Theo final line we may interpret as
''Let' s g6, Katie", since the poet is already taking part in the round of
pleasure.
In the "Red Sash", SOUBter is unsure' of himself in the presence of
-80
womanj he approaches her with a guarded s~ance. He fears herj she represents
danger or mystery.
The red sssh coiled around your waist, a kind of snake
ta be hanQ.led wi th care 139
1
Like Coderre, Souster,occasionally puts his woman on a pedestat - instead
of a saint, she becomes a goddess he appeals to
\ ~ love:
1~8 Ibid •• , ,139 Raymon~ Seuster, Lest and F~, R- 46."
- ,
/'
o
•
•
o My warm god~ess, step doWn from this wall t arl.d ve' il span the blackness of two years' parting in our eyes' and our lips' first touching together. 140
1 '1
'1
There i5 hope in this tableau of a woman-goddess that she ma.y become a , ~.. , d
- 81
warm, loving woman whereas Coderre's idlal woman is ~ttainable" for who
can malte love to a saint! A contrasting vignette of woman in Souster's
poetry is that of a simple, ordinary woman being herself at her bath, ob
served by the peeping-tom eye of the poet, and sketched wi th words aB aurely
as Renair's Le Bain,
l
Drops of water glisten on her body, elight buttocks, neck, tight belly, fall at intervals from,the slightly plumed oval of cratch.
Neck bent forward eyea .e-ùllected .,..4. her attention gathèred. 141
0-
• /~v
Sh~ is the woman, fem~e. and warm, wl),om men would deaire to join
there in those heurs be1;ween sleeping and the dawn. 142
1-.,
140 RaYmond Souster, go Far So Good.
141 Raymond Souster; The Col'Our di the Times t • p. 35 •
? 1
•
• f' \
• ,- ..
~ .. ~
,.
'-82 Q
It iB exci ting to diBcaver that i t' is through thê parade of their
respective women vignettes that Coderre and Souster mos~ vividly reveal .',
t~eir differences in upbringing and their way of thinking. The ethnie
drigins and the customs of their different cultures come ta the fore. •
Coderre true ta the attitude of his time towards women in Quebec, p~ishly
sidesteps their sexual existence and over-glorifies the wife and ~other;
. Souster true to the North American worship of cuteness and youth, do es
exactly the opposite, provided the women are young and pretty.
III - NATURE AS HAVEN q~, ~UILIBRIUM f,.\I~,t'J
/ . ,
'.' ~
,~, " r.P> Nature is a haven ï6f poets and lovers in Coderre's early poetry;
. while in Ms poetry as Jean Narrache, nature is both haven and source of
equilibrium for the tortared city dweller.
Throughout "Les S~gnes Sur le S'able" which is dedicated ta dream J' . ~
and sweet love and solitude, the poet wanders in Nature and is inspired by d
it. ''Fantaisie'' is representative of a great 'number of such poems created
in Nature by the lovesick poet,
Qttand ~e coèur s'allège D'un aveu troublant, Rêver dans du b*anc, Dans du blanc 'de neige.
Rêver dans du vert, 'Du vert d'espérance, . Qu.aD.d l'âme s' 'lance En l'espace ouvert •••
, l
o
\ 1
•
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•
• ,
Rêver dans du rose, Du rose de fleur, Lorsque, sur son coeur, Une autre repose ••• 143
a
Phen follow three darker colours (gris, brun et noir) for more sombre
dreams, rendered truly melancholy by the moonlight blue suffusing ~he
poet 's landscape. The poet goes even further, and in the true romantic
- 83
manner he wishes to unite with it, ta b,ecome one with it sa entirely as ta
bec reborn, in a giant oak tree, after his desolate BOul finally expires.
In "Evocation" nature is such a haven beyond life,
o divine nature', 0 ma sainte maîtresse 'Accueille-moi, tremblant, dans tes deux bras tenàusl Que je me pâme enfin sous tes chaudes caresses Et que mon âme meure 'en baisers éperdus 1 . ,
Fai.s que"mon âme lasse, errante,' désolée, Revi ve transformée en un chêne ~ant, Un chêne 'magnifiq~e au bord d'un~ vallée, Défiant la tempêté et l' ab:ime géant 1 144
" .
. ~ -The plea the poet makes ta nature for metempsychosis'or transmigration i6
\ . "
disquiâting in the mouth of a Roman Catholic; of course, it may be nothing
deej. than poe tic fant'~. But if we take C'oderre' B liords at f~ce value . "J
ve are témpted ta conaJ.;,ude that nature vas to him sometimes n9t only a w ,.
haven but a heaven.
. ... 143 Emile Coderre, Les Silees sur
, . le Bable p. 10'1.
144 Ibid. , •
p • 25· , ,-
... ~ .. ,
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In "Rêverie d' ml soir", Aature is more than a haven for l ove, ra ; ,.. i t is their accomplice.
{ The Moon watches the lovers lat play and Mdes be-
hind the clouds like a discreet chaperone, to allow them to kiss in pel1F<,e.
Vois la lune passe la tête Dans les nuages vaporeuX Bonne vieille! Elle est inquiète De ce que font les amoureuxl
qar voici qu~ lIa bonne lune . Voyant nos levres se t~cher, De peur de nous être importune,
4 ' vi.ent un instant de se cacherl 145
, ( ,
Jean Marrache, the city poet, believes that the green spots of dature re-
served as parks~ are a desperate haven f?r urb~ man and a needed force of
èquilibrium to his vell-being.' ''En rôd~t dans _ l' parc Lafantaine" offers
• hint an oasis of quiet, of cooler ~r near the pond, "of flo-werB and grass,
wher~ he cames in search.af rest and th~ strength ta face yet another
painfpl day,
i A soir, j'suis v'nu tirer un' touche dans l' parc Lafontain', pour prendr' l'air
d'vant l'étang, lee fleurs pis ll~o~. C'est si beau qu'on s'croit loin d'la ville ~UBqU' on étouff' dans nos maisons.
Les soirs d' été,' ,c'est l' coin d' ombrasoe pour v' nir prendr' la fraich' pis s' pranener, après qu'on a sué su' l'ouvrage, qu' l'eau noUEJ pissait au bo ut du nez. 146
145 Ibid., p! 52.
146 Jean Narrache., J'parle tout Bepl. <JU!!!:d Jean Narrache, p. 123.
) J
".
• #
o ,
4
1 •
• ~--, .•. ... ~ } ,
" "
...
1
. When Narrache mentions nature at all, in the city, it is onlyas a remi-
o
niscence about the village of his youth where his house and church we~e
-,85
.;,\ slütably surrounded by fir trees. It is a peaceful haven for his dreams
• •
1 • ...,.j:-
\;1
•
,
and thoughts,
On rêvass' du pauvr ' petit village, Qui dort à l'ombre des sapins, ' D'la vieille églis' de ~otr' jeune âge, Qui pique en l'ai~ son clocher fin. 147
F~ly, Coderre bas one rather morbid nature spot in the city, where the
poet is wo,nt ta reflect on "Death the Leveller"; th'e silence there, he
saya sarcasticaily being, "comme au sénat " .... He wri tes in "Dimanche~
après-midi au cimetière",
Me v'là rendu au cimetière, C'eat un' drôl' de plac' pour a'prom'ner, Mais moi, j' vais pas ~ans l'ouest ma chère"; J'ai pas d'nipp's neuv's à pavaner.
The graveyard is one of the havens accessible to ~he poor; but in Coderre'a
opinion it is not a force oflequilibrium sinee even there the social classes
a.r~ still aharp1y defined by the importance of the funeral ~onum~ts and by 1
the areaa reserved for each. !
. " •
147 Ibid., p. 103.
"
,r
•
•
•
." Faut qu' les gueux puis les personnages Soient enterrés chacun d'leu bord. Ça s'voi~ co~' le nez dans l'visage Qu'c'est l'égalité d'vant la mort. 148
o /
The làst line is SPOk) wi th extreme bitterness~
, '.
Souater treat,rnature differently: i t is very rarely a haven, a
-86
place where one escapes, but rather a force of equilibr~um for man's sanity
or goodness in the city. His "Butterfly on Melinda Street" is a welcome
bright touch of color doing "the golden dance of the morning sun" as it " .
flit-flutters "up past the third-storey windows" 149 , balanced agaJ,nst
the city's drabness. Sa is "The First Scarlet Tanager". 1
Lightning's wildest flash tamed to flame-flutter 150
, Sometimes Soust,er is awestruck' by nature's force of equilibriUÏp a
l'
1!0wer c~,le of producing miracles_ ''Unadulterated Poetry" is one or the
most significant poems he bas wri tten about t!e soothing ef,fects natu~e haB
on ,man, an appeal to the ·tenderness underneath man's rough exterior,
'\......---
148 Ibid., p. 77.
149' lbQmond SOUB~er, As Is, p. 52.
150 Ibid., p. 96.
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as "the four di tch-diggera slowly converge on the spartow who's lost al+ power in hie wings but a last desperate flutter t~t doesn't keep him long awa:y from the hairy meat-hoo~ of a band which, cupped, for.a. moment in hia prison· ••• ••• but now becomes (the miracle!) warm~beattng soft cell of skin whose other name is love. 151
" LI
Wi th "The Wonn", the poet once, more reveals his fascinated ~ncredulity at
naturels presenc-q in the city.
Don' t ask me how he managed to corkscrew his wa~r through the King Street pavement, l'il leave that ta you'. All l know ia ther~ he was,
as the warm rain fell in ... that dark morning street of early April. 152
'1
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Nature brings solace to the poet in "Spring Soaking" ; .;i. t ta the high priest
in the ra.tual of purification:
Pel ting my haiF sluioing down my face juicing at ~ lips.
151 '~, ;e. '36.
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After winter's five grey-black-white Inquisitions,
to find myBelf drowned in the warmed and gent1e tain bath of spring. 153
/
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D
The park in the city, however-, is not always the baven, friendly and pea-
ceful, that i t is in Coderre' s poetic vision. The poet feels he is 'fbeing
observed" and "the foraging squirre1 ha.e no time" 154 for him. He intrudes
on nature, which frankly becomes hi.s enemy, a ho~tile captor, in "Crazy
Spring Song".
l'm hemmed in, surrounded taken prisoner by greenness, Each bud-burBt in the dark tb.ru.sts through my heart. 155
or i t leaves the poet behind as in "Thickson' Sil:
before the swallows leave another year without us. 156 o
But nature is often a haven for thoughts and meditations, an occasion for ------------- - ---- -- ---- --- --- ----- -- - -- --- --------------------------- -----------0---
SOUB-ter to philosophize on life, as in ''Miçation'' 157 ("the sveet ourse . . - _.c:;:.
153 Ibid •• 0
1.54 Ibid., p. 12.
155 Ibid., p. 32.
156 Ibid., p. 32.
157 Ibid. , p. 54. Go \
,
•
•
••
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of love"), in "Wasp Nest" 158 as l~ "Séparatistes", ("better tolerated . , than stirred Upll) , in "Roses on the Trellis" 159 C"lewdly french-kissing
night") , in "Where the Bee ~oe:s" 160 ("a 'man likes ta lose himself for a
day or an i~e hour"), and in "The Lagoon" 161 C"my dreams float a while,
then are washed a.shore"). Nature then becomes an inexhaustable source of
lessons to be learne~ by the poet. Because of Us constant renewal, he
is often reminded of his own Bexual renaissance, nature thus suggef:!ting a
89
healthy equilibrium in hie O'oin self t as weIl as a source of countless poetic
images.
Where nature is a, romantic background fqr lovers in Code~re' s poetry,
in Souster's love poems, it ia sometimes more or less a poetiê device per-
mi tting the lovers to function. There is no romance in the love-making of
the young couples "Among the Willows". Nature is rather a hide-out than a
havea for those who feel sadly furtive when they should feel beautiful
. ,-., ...... ',1 ~~
thinking themselves wel1-hidden had abandoned themaelves to their lovi..l;g. 162
-- .- ----------- --. - --- - ---
158 Ibid· z , p. 69.
159 Ibid. , p. 68.
160 Ibid. , p. 95.
161 Ibid. , p. 101.
162 Ibid. , p • 97.
"
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- 90
In the same poem, "the mud banka of the river" are transformed into - \.
"a green band, when aummer returns", thus establishing a seasonal equili-<"
brium evident throughout nature, even in "the young couples in those
- thickets", whose sexual desir~ is arou.aed by the renewal in nature. /
The read.er of Souster' s nature poems comes away wi th the sensation
of a wholesome equitibrium effected in the human beings by the forces of
nat.re; while Coderre leaves bis readers with images of beautiful, poetic
background in Les Signes sur le Sable, but also with a sensation of arti
ficiality or facetiousness. Our two poets usé nature, each in his '118.;1,
sometimes as a haven and sometimes as a force for equilibrium. We can say
that Souster throbs vibrantly in nature, while Coderre sits passively
within it, not really joining in its pulsatio~
l,
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CHAPTER IV • 1
A~TtlDES TOWARDS RELIGION AND MORALITY CONSIDERATIONS ON OLD AGE AND DEATH
l - ATTITUDES TOWARDS RELIGION AND MORALI~
• 11
Coderre is r~ligioUB while Souster bas religion. Coderre's spiritual
nature is bound to a supernatural being or beings ri th whom he is in a
state of dependence. The fee,ilin~ ~and practices which flov irom such a
relation are of the utmost importance to ms mental stability. If "pure
religion is ta visit the fatherless, etc ... " according to James i,27, then
Souster bas passed successfully the practical test of the spiritual life •
!.
Caderre 1 s "gueux" is totally dependent on his religion for help and
acceptance of ms condition. His faith iB simple and uncluttered: "la
foi du charbonnier". The Saints, the Blessed Virgin and the Infant Jesus
are his ~riends and he addresses theJn freely and openly. He con..fides in -,. them and feels thé better for it. He hopes ta reach God through ~eir me-
, diationj he do es not dare address Kim directly. He feels most at eaae
with ''P'tit Jésus", as he childishly calls the In!ant Jesus, in hiB plea 1 •
for help: (, - ~:r'"
P'tit Jésus qui ris dans ta crèche En m'tendant tes deux bras potllés, Toi qu'as voulu na! tr' dans la dèche Pour aider les gueux mal attflés
• • •
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J'suis rien qu'un quêteux d'la grand'route Qui B '~en va, la besace au dos Mais ta bonté jamais j'en doute Et j'te dis d'mon mieux mon Credo. 163
l /
- 92
Now it's Sa1.nt-Antoine's tum to receive the underdog's pr~er and put in 1
a good word for him with our Lord:
... -.. ' .. :::
••• Priez l'bon 'Dieu qu'i m'donne un' chance, Vous qu'êt's dans la manch'd'notr'Seigneur.
Î
to help him get a job:
J'peux pas vous fair' des grand 'B prières, J'vous parI 'rai comm' ça, coeur à coeur.
Quand c'est qu' i' va .finir, l' chômage ~'leB journaux' n'en pari 'nt à tQrd-cou?
He admits with great humility that he is not,worthytf the Lord's benign
attention because he loses his temper and. swears a ,those are bis
sina:
iIe ,l'mérit' pas, j'ais, Bondance! Jiliais qu 1 j' suis ben prompt pis ben sacreur.
r ~
He itI also ashamed of the fact that he prqs better when he :tleedJs saaething
~ (:.;~
163 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean NErache, p. 38 •
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from GOd:"
"" ~d j'prie pour d'mander des affaires, Ça m'gên' pis ça m'en bouche un coin D'penser qû'j'fais ben mieux mes prières Quand j' suis pris d' court, pis dans l' besoin.
The "gueux" 's complete self-denial is really striking; aIl the favours
he bega are for his ''Vieille'', hi.s boy, hia daughter. For h1mself, he ,
wants employment, "un' plac' pour travailler". The bargaining sequenoe
of his prayE7T reveal.s Borne by-gone religious practices such as the novena,
and a way of thought long cherished by most French-Canadians'.
J'vous promets qu'on f'ra un' neuvaine, Un' tanant', j'vous réponds d'çal Voua ê-'s ben sûr, bon saint Antoine, D' pas avoir affaire à d' z' ingrats.
'1
o He throws 'in his son '"s future for good measpre, on' a' confidentlal t6ne,
,mixed with a "soupçon" of cunning
.(J flattery,
• • • J' vous dis ça dans l' tuyau d' l'oreille: Mon p'tit gana, c'est un bon chréquien; J'prierai l 'bon Yeu avec ma vieille ' Pour qu' lui' 'si fasse un francl;tloain. f64- )
(
164 Ibid., p. 71.
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The orders and the!~onvent were for a great Many years the highest possible
status in Quebec ~ocial life. The young people elected to the vocation
(, aeldom ~ueationed their pjrenta' deciaion. It aingled them out as BUperior
'-" f .
The gUeux 1 ~ fai th inti tes him to turn. hi.s eyes towards he aven for the
after-life, and this thought comforts him in bis misery below, and it helps . 1
him accept bis lot,
1
1 J'pense à ça à soir, pis j'y r'pense ••• P'tit Jésus, j'SalS ~en qu't'as pas tort Vu qu'on aura notr' récompense Un' fois qu'on s'ra rendu d'k'autr' bord
VIe hope that the strikingly wretched couple in "Soir d'été" do obtain
. the "récompense d' l' autr' bord" j' their life portrayed in \he !ollowing
'" stanza is one of, the Most desolate imagea of misery to be found in COderre's'·,., ,"" poetry,
Y's:aim'nt toujo~, mais sans se l'dire;~ Y'~'ront comm' ça jusqu'à leur mort,
• Comme un' pair' de vieux ch'vaux qui tirent .:roujours att'lés dans l'mêm' brancard. 166 C~
r 165 Ibid., p. "4.
166 Ibid., p. 101.
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. - 95
, " Coderre' s man, because of hi.s religious belief in a heaven after
,)
~eath, proportionate1y happy to bis good life below, is exaggeratedly
resigned ta his lot. He depends 0 too lItuch upon the Saints, "P'tit Jésus"
and ''Notre-Dame'' and he becomes a fatalist; - i t worka against him. ~ ~
Dans la vie, c'est comm'ça qu'ça s'passe; quand ben mêœ' qu'on s'dégrimonerait, on peut pas tous êtr' '~premier'd' classe", en faut à la queue, c (est pas vrai?
"
And'~~Bion of heaven as a reward in exchange for accep-
tance. ~ " - ,
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ça, ça fait rien. Tout's mes souffrances, J' les accept '. toujours comm' mon ,lot, Vu que j 'perds jamais l'espérance Que j's~~ai'récompensé en Raut. 167
In "Espoirs", the "gueux" has a point when he sBJ'B,
Si on n'avait pas nos croyances Quoi qu' i 'rest ' rait dans notr' vie d' chien? 168
True enough:
L'
the underdog~'B belief in another work.d saves him trom \
utter desperation. But Quebec sodaal historians point out that while ..
167 Ibid. , p. 66. QI - \
168 Ibid., p. 63 •
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" ~'J
Coderre's all-trusting man, had bis eyes raised ~opefully
country was being developed by other men with their eyes
to he aven ,his V kept realisticaily
down. We do not know what Coderre's personal religi~us beliefs really were;
bis biographer will tell. We can only surm:fse what they may have been Illte ~) .
from bis poetry. Was he ~ot serious or ironic, or both at once about the
naïve faith of his underdog character? One wonders if to some extent he vas
not satirizin~ gullibility ~ weIl!
Souster's religion does not appear as one of observance of rites such
~ taking communion or going ta church on Sunday; nor i5 it one 'of dependence
on an after-life for solace; bis religious sense manifests itself purely as
an observance of the religioUB principles of Christianity. E.K. Brown wri-
~. 169 tes, So~ter "finds that all men ••• are brothers" • This SUInS up
Souster's religion beautifully, and explains his sympathy with Norman Bethune, ~
to whom he dedicated "The Good Doctor". Bethune, he tells UB,
tried to save the more helpless refugees trapped on/' the Malaga road by Franco's pincers, fort y loads a day for three days in the battered truck w1 th still so many old bewildered ones left behing to die. 170
Souster' s compassionate understanding and constant championing of the weak.
and helpless in ,bis poetry iB ample proof of bis elevated re1igious ideal.
He haB a Chr1st-~e care for small children.
1.69
170 p. 22.
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- 97
• •• living neglected on Wellington West
or the little "Viewers" ,
171
The boy, white, six at the Most, the girl, Negro, -may be five, their patched clothes needing a wash, their faces a soaping:
.••• both half-hidden in a forest of TV's and radios, eyes so intent on the magic before them. 172
o and again in "Beautiful Children" where bis tender love for clU.ldren comes
to the surface in a very touching way,
These beaut1ful children conceived in lust and despair,
~~~~.!~t~~~~n ~!h:~~th yeu far to some~ace, any place but thiB p4tch of death on the back roads: 173
His compassion 1s extended to another cC:gory of young people, the 1n-
betweens, not children\any more and not adulte e1ther, misunderstood by ~ 0
their parents or by society. He 1s critical of the mother in "Motorcycle
Girl" who discards her daughter off - handedly as a vhore --
o
Rer mother:. . if she wants to be a whore she should .get paid for 1 t •
171 Ibid., p. 40.
~72 Ibid., p. 84.
173 lùqmond soustër, The Colour of ths; Timeo, 'J. lll. - >
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The co1dness of the mother's heart stands in contrast with the poet's un ... , ,
derstanding Qf the gir1's shortcomings, which he exp1ains, below, and
refuses ta condemn--
• •• (Jungle Princess of the Screeching Ti~éS, White Goddess of the Shotgun Exhausta, only softness tenderness known in t~ wor1d) ••• 174
~ Souster, ~n.i-,~nvites hia 'audience to charitable underatanding and for-
giveness. when" they observe the "boy'a face in court", beneath "the hardness
in the eyes, lips held together tightly"~
Read in i t all the years of street-gangs, pool-rooms heavy with amoke and bravado, dance-hall SlÏturday nights with bottles in hip, girls ready for sex in the borrowed car. Read there the. crap games, farce of school, hatred of cops, strait-Iaced home learning to be tough, to, kill.
He ends bis generous plea in favour of the accused wi th the Cbrist-like
.... 0
warning of "He that is without sin among you, let him first èast a stone at • • t
her" (John,
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••• Ar~ you surprised to s~e him in this stuffi city court-room, wai ting to hear the verdict of that Law
174 Ibid., p. 68 •
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which must condemn lest it condemn itself? 175, 1
The same tender preoccupation is e\li.dent in ffTwo Prisoners" where ..1
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Looking tough, looking dr~hevelled, looking beWildered, looking at nothing at all,
two young boys, handcuffed to detectives walk "stiffly from a courtroom".
He ends 'With the' reproach to society in general.
Some of us should be made to go along with them. 176
Society he believes should take part of the burden of guilt from the
children's shoulders.
- 99'
Souater' s compassion is even extended to a C1MS of people unpopuJ.ar c
in our western world and generally held in contempt by the public; the
suicides. 177 1780
In "Holl Natural I.e Gas" and "The WaJ It Could Have Been"
Souster very sadly mourns the grim isolation some lien li "le J..n, unknown to
the rest of us. His simply-worded statement of facts 1a the more poignant .,
175 Ibid., -p. lB.
176 Ra.,mond Souster, Lost and Found, p. 82.
"<t' 177 Raymond Souster, As ~, p. 66. , .
178 Ibid., p. '85. ---"
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,
for the horror of the self-destructive act. Not many poetB bother
with such cases of self-immolation, since suicide is considered reprehen
sible in our society. ~The tact that te deals sympathetièally vith the
subject is another indication of practical religion. () r "
Unlike Coderre, who is always deferential towards the Church and its
ri tes, Souster is irreverent and sometimes even :Pnau.:Lting toward est abl ishe d'
&. religion. Coderre' s man regrets the absence of good stI'1l.èture in modern
churchés,
of A c't'heur l , on bâtit comme églises Des vraies baraques qui font pitié.
And he expla1Ds this sQbriety by a lack of faith --
, "
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A c't'heur', faut croir' qu'la foi nous manque', Vu qu' dans les grand's vill's d'aujourd'~, Les plus bell's bâtiss's, c'est les banque~ Les hôtels, puis les cafés d'nuit. 179
In contrast, Souster c~ckles irreli~~y that
c \'
••• the finger of ~t points straight froDf' 41.s pedestal on the Clntrch ~of the S'~lors dow.n_~tory-cravlin« streets to J06~Beef's, the oldest loudest, tavern in t~. IBo
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t},--------17~ ~.Jean Narrache, J'parle tout seul. quand Jean Narraehe, up. 60 •
IBo ~ond Souster, As.la, p. 70.
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, He also pokes fun at astute Funeral parlor operators aB they ply
their trade amongst a consenting public_
father in the poem points oùt. '
In "Choosing Coffins", the
that he' li had this srune wood in a cano~ f~rty years ago .t,; ...
To which Souster retorts poin~ed1t,
(The canoe had cost eighty dollars, this casket was twenty-four hundred '~omplete wi th burial") 181
. ,",
He cri ticizes the empty ri tuals and the empty vords in "Funeral
Director" :
When the Reverend at graveside shouting over the wind, reaches the appropriate words Q
on' Ms fiapping Bible -page,
very d~iberately your band sprinkles' just the righ~ amount
" of fine brown sand in the form of a cross on the shiny coffin to»_ 182
v .d~ ......
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And again., in "Tl:l.e .Delights of HeaveI;l", the joys of the af'terlife are made •
1-,\
181 Raymond 8oustt}r, _Th;;;;,;;;é_C;;.O;;.;l;;.;O;.;ur;;;......;,O;;;;"f.,...;t;;rr;;;;o..· -_~;;;;;;;e_B;;., -
p. 70.
182 ~ond souster, As la, p_ 68. .,
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Ba tantalizing by the Reverend that the poet
/
wished in some crazy way to be sealed in the casket vith our departed one, ••• both my wings flashing that buoyant and eternal sunset. 183
- 102
Wh'ile Coderre situates heaven above in an enchanted nowhere, Souster
situates it.
• •• down here, among us l.iving, where it can, in the human heart. 184
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In spi te of hie occasional sarcastic Jab at the \Church and i ts 0011-
\' formist rites, Souster would seem to be the more gen~ely religious of the
\ ... two. "The ~~ery" ,summarizes hie immense Christian co~~rn for others and
... \
~ one of' the most beautiful pray&rs ~we have read.
.-j
o why can' t the vorld . t
move tovard its golden centre much as 'We move closer 1 surer to our dream oir love?
And people 'Wi ~ their beallt1ful bodies si ven them how 1s 1t they have Ume left to cheat and td ,lêill. in any name, for a:TJ."1 cause righteous or"'élll, -'When it is summer an,&t.the nighb are long and all the air Bhaken with the sUver of little bella?, 185
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J,83 ~ond Souster, Lost and FOWld, p. 66. \ .\
184 ~ond Souster 1 As Is, p. 23.
185 Ibid., p. 91 ..
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In order to look at~the morality displayed by our two poets, ve .,
might direct our attention to vbat they consider "immoral". Two social
wrongs stand out above manyI unemployment and war. Coderre bas stressed
the right to work in a great many poems, and ha.s emphasized the iebili tating
effect unemployment has on a man and hie tamily. In hie address to Saint-
Antoine, he talks about the joy'that would enter hie home if he were to
"get a job,
Si je l'ai, ••• craignez pas la glace! ••• Ça va êtr' fête à la maison! Y' a si longtemps qu' ma vieill' s tracasse Qu'eil en dort pus comm' de raison.
Ap.d the bard reality of living on Welfare •
Tandis c'temps-là, chez nous on crève, On a pus rien à s 'mettr' dans l'bec, J' vous ~s!r, qu' la vie ç' llas un rêve Quand on est sous l' Secours dire~t t 186
Ta be deprived of his right to york is the vorst indignity the laboring
man can ""Uer; and those who are respOlUdbl. for tbis evil, the ''Cla.oBe l ,e-
dirigeante", the poli ficians, the financiers, are the da.med of' society j" ~ A moral man, saye Coderre, is the type Diogène vas searchi.ng for, , -;:;.: :t"
••
186 Jean Narrache, J'parle tout seul ;
gundJ~URL. 71.
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l' charchai t un homm', à c' qui disent, Un ho~' correct su' tous les points. Un homm' de mêm', - j'gag'raiB ma ch'mise -Ça s'rencontr' pas àiPuB les coins.
But he was certainly not to be !ound --
••• dans l'quartier D'la Bourse et de la haut' r1Oance, Parmi les agents, les courtiers. 187
n
Or at ilIa plac' Neptune" which is deacribed as the "carrefour" of crooks
disguised as lawyers --
C'est un' plac' à mauvais's rencontres. T'es mieux de t'méfier en tous cas, Et pis, prends ,ben garde à ta montre: Ibit', c'est tout ,plein d'avocats.
Government people are said to be ready to trade virtue, honor et cetera
for a good secure job:
... \;~~,
Y trouv' qu'la vertu, l'sacrifice, L'honneur avec tout l'tremblement, ça.onn' pas autant" d'bénéfices Qu'un' bonn' "job" au gouvernement.
, 188
- 104
"(
AlI profiteering types are condemned by Coderre as immoral • To~ter, on . ~ the other band, war is the most ~oral, despicahl.e evU that 'exists; i t
/187
\188 Ibid., p. 97~
Ibid., p. 113.
, '
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maltes ''killers out of boys", i t trains people "in that fine work" of
killing, "that sergeant ll in IIRecruits,_ Marine Corpslt mak.es it his business
to take you, make you or break you --~
So when they finish you' 11 talk 1i.ke Marines, walk 1ike Marines, sc rew like Marines, aIl in the beat tradition of the Corps, which ia to have the ~eBt expendab1e material on the right beach at the right time •••
TheBe young men are not human beings any longer, but mindless robots,
cannon fodder, pawns in the most immoral game of al1, the garne of var.
Souster haB thiB chilling 1aat stanza addressed to parents who share the
war guilt with the rest of the vorld:
l hope your parents took a long look at you. , Know it or not,
"-They vere seeing their b,~ for the very last time. 189
A
Il
They are "seeing their boys for the last time vhether they survive or not".
Ris "Dirge for the New Wor1d" 18 a deeply sad denunciatiofl of WBr • •
Nobody vanta to think or listen (.) 50 the bodies will have to pile the world is rotten, but still ve lick at i ts st! nk1 ng corpse, the vorld iB sick and dying but we think it nU rise again •
189 Rqmond souster, Lost and Found, p. 22 •. , . '
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This ia not -despair, only truth, this 18 not a wail but a warnintj. ~ world vithout peace, only var,
o vorld vith only a Bomb to show for our sweat and our blood.
) 190
But'> the most vehement condemnation of war is to be ~d in the poem
''Postscript'' where innocent worms eat the innocent flesh of "these Qodies
lying there geing nowhere fast" because they (the worms)
o Don't know the score, they nèver had their radios tuned in
~When the pot-belly guys were shooting the shit to the vide vide world,
The Bweet little lowdown on life, liberty, and the pursüi t virgins,
So the little crawlers don't know a thing, they get hungry and
Anything they see they eat because they can' t stand starving to death, strange as it seems. 191
<li
The pot-belly var-mongers are seen as horrendPus, immoral profiteering crea-
tures, like the seme crovd in Catch 22
"vi th some of our boys cutting fingers off just to get a ring ••• " 193
190 Ibid., p.23.
191 lùQmond Souster, When 'le Are YOUllla
192
192 Joseph Heller, Catch 22, New York, 1964.
193 Raymond Souster, Lost and Found, p. 26.
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TheBe are the same boys that their own parents could not possibly
recognize . ste war has robbed thoem forever of all the moral values
that were taught at home. i '
i-n - CONSIDERATIONS ON OLD AGE AND DEATH
When they meditate on old age, our two poets rarely hav
vision; they are more often than not completely at odds. In his tirst
period especially, Coderre entertains a sad, romanticized conception of
old people. He uses the rather hackneyed image of "Les vieillards dont
le dos se voûte". The old are crumb}ing hotuJ8B.
Les vieilles maisons qu'on n'habite plus Penchant vers la mort leurs vieux toits pointus.
- 107
They are 810'1111' going to the sarne pathetic end thrOfgh neglect and abandons
o L Meurent lentement d'être d&laiss6s. 194
He also seeâ 01 .. ase as a nostalgie time for ar:t\anging souvenirs and
\
keepsakes with 'a rather heavy heart, like the trinketl!! in the jevel calse,
/ 194 nu1e Caderre, Lea Signes sur le Sable, p. ·]5.
....
>
•
•
•
o Hélas 1 mon coeur ressemble aux bijoux du coffret 1 Je sais qu'il garde en lui des souvenirs moroses Des gaités et des deuils, sans livrer leur secret.
- 108
195
Or old age ia a time for reminiscing ailently over by-gone daye, as in
"A la Dérive",
Oui, quand on a du gris aux tempes Et qu'on sèlQ qu'on a plus vingt ans Y'a ben des soirs que, sous la lampe, On r'penee à nOS joura d'l'ancien temps.
On feuill' te son coeur comme un livre Où c'est qu'des pag's au coin plié Marqu'nt des passag's qu'on voudrait r'vivre Et qu'ça s'rait trop trist' d'oublier. 196
His old couple is ideally retired in the country where they live their
golden age together in "La p' ti t' maison d' nos joura heureux" 197 It
is sad to remember that Coderre' a own golden age, vi th "Ma chère Vieille" a
vas rudely interrupted by hie death.
~ ù Cod.rre'~old people are not all suffuo.d vith pe.ce and gold. fr ••
from the deformi tha and illne88es inherent to the age: considttr hi's ar-
thri tic street barrel orsan player vi th "sa main qui tr_ble" ~
• •• la vieille main débile se crispe, ankylosée à force de souffrir ••• 198
196 Jean Karrache, J'parle tout seul quand Jean Karrache, p. 36. .
197 Ibid., p. 193.
198 Eadle Coderre t Lu Sipes sur le Sab1., p. 19. - v
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But Coderre's old people are never portrayed as be~~;ttgly. They are o
as sof'tly def'ined as twilight 1 ''Le ci-épuscule est d~ux'; 199. However,
Coderre does not always see old age 50 calml~; he 1B apprehena1ve of the 1
evening of lite. Strange visionB,and formless spectres haunt bis
thoughts of o~d age,
Au soir tombant, j'ai peur des formes imprécises Que prennent tout à coup mes objets familiers, D'étranges visions se dressent par milliers Et tous mes caudhemars soudain se réalisent.
And natural1y this 1eads to thoughts of' death.
Puis 1 'horloge ~essée ainsi qu'un grand cercueil, Que dit-elle tout bas? "Songez aUX heures mortes f 200.
Sous ter 's old people are rarely presented as a couple: in that he
ditfers from Coderre entirely.
by ~ old waman and vice versa.
The old man in Sous ter 1s not accaapanied
Except in one poem, perhaps where ~'
••• The parents young once now terribly old, turning to the bottle more and more 8I!S they turn trom each other, 201
Even at that, the couple 1s not really Qld in years but aged by var
1 200 Ibid., p. 109.
201 ~ond Souat.r, The Colour pt the Tiae." p. llO. tf}
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,
•
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and care. In eontrast ta Coderre, there are tev images of peaceful golden
agera in hia poetry. Bei ng old ia ugly, f'/I.se in a man' a lire ~o be
delayed as' long as po i ble Binee i t' cannot be escaped. In ''Pact'', the "
, 1
1 \ ti fisht their common enemy, winter, to the end.
..... _-
Until its last red fruit bas fallen ve are not defeated, and will eonced~ nothIng~
, 202
..
In short, old age in Souster is generally th~t of as a downfalI, a
decadence. "TheÎ old are inhuman anyway"
ter's viev of O~d age. 1
The old man may b~ 8e~ ,
••• ahu!fiing, balf a step at a ~e, ,
, , 202 Raymond Souater, SA Far Sa Good.
203"
203 E.K. Brown, Poetrz, March 1947, p. 349. ,...
reports E.K. Brown on SOUB-, .'
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•
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as he
1 inches toward the barn, the years pushing at his
back, squeezing hie le!8, pressing in on his throat. 204
/ .
In his sad predicament, he entertains nature and the barnyard animals, /
lil
who a.ll "remain motionless" to watch the show j'" sort of bu.!foon inade-
1 quate yet courageous. So is the "Washroom Attenl!ant"---1 /
who hasn' t got the sense ta l1e down and die, rest wi th digni ty • 205
/
Sous ter is stricken ri th panic when he is made avare of the 10n~liness of
~ the old. ~e says,
When l Bee old men, with noses in books every night in dead cornC!rs
J. of deserted room •••
" When he sees the glances of dirty old men at passin« young girls, and
-~n he heare them boasting of their paet feats, his panic groWB into a
204 Raymond Souster, The Colour of the Times, p .. 119-
205 Raymond Soue ter , Lost and Found, p. 45. ....
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supplica~on for death, quick and neat.
..
p
then l pray my old age sball be brie! as the fluk:e matador's golden seas.on, year -qnmarked by home overflowing with contracts and cries that echo round the hoarse arena 206
- 112
: ~
But the po~t takes heart once in a while when he sees an occasional old
man he would actually lllCe to resemble. "The Old Prospector" is his
model, "striding out the door". Souster"would be reconciled with old
age if he could only be half that man --
if l have to be old l' d like to be balf that man, still fighting, still with spirit, unbroken by the world, still turning thoae old eyes to meet his real and imaginary enemies ••• If l have to be old let me be any part of him. . 207
.'
Old women are treated b;y Souster in a very particular manner:- the
old lady sitting on a stool "on the dark side of the street" 18 full of
frolic i~ a vicked witch way,
.if she likea you she stretches out her hook leg and trips ;rou
206 Raymond Souater, The Colour of the Times, p. 13 •
207 Ibid., p. 43.
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•
as you go by: ••• then waits, her laughter shaking all the Btreet, 0
while you turn your pockets out, lunging wi th her hook to spear the nearest dollar bill. 208
At other times, Souater Bees the old woman as a broken-down ~oll ~hose
- 113
mechani8lll worka in slow motion. The repetitive adverbB UBed in "Old Woman
in HOBpi tal Eating BreakfaSt" render very weIl the slow progresB made by
the decrepit patient trying ta feed herself:
Slowly Carefully painstakingly agonizingly she lifts the spoon to her eagerly waiting mouth. 209
c
The ,.p'1<cture of a fledgeling or of a baby being nursed canes appropriately
to one'e Ilind~\ and conveys the dependence of s1ck, old people. Further-1\ 4
c' more, old.. age ha.s clinging to i t "the slow amell of dying" 21D , the "Old
211 Man on Bay Street" 1s "rotting slowly cwith a&e" , the old lady gets
"crushed to deaJh" by the Bathurst street car - El messy affaira Ali
l ,
1,1..); ~)'l)
208 Raymond Sous ter , Lost and FOlmd, p. 86. i
209 Raymond Soust'->er, .b la, p. 87.
210 Raymond Souster, SO Far 50 Good •
211- Ra)"DIond Bouster, The Golou cff the Times, p • .52.
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terribly depressing.
The final picture of old ,age ve vould prere~ to keep vi th 118 as ve
close this section is tbat oi::'the ''PeIlBioners in the Park" those who bave
~ome arfinity vith Ooderre's peaceful golden agers:
The frozen nights, sunless deys
far beHind them nov: life a thing somehow good, even precioUB~. 212
Coderre' man thinks of death as a release ~/: the SQul finally alloved
to soar to Heaven where a velcoming committee made up of the ed Virg1.n,
the angels and the saints is on hand to receive it and lead it the office
of the Lord:
"L'Seigneur t'attend dans son bureau"
L'Seigneur s'ra là avec sa mère o
La St-Vierg1, les ans' s et les saints.
He sees himse-lf on equal terms vi th Our Lord who calls him t8lliliar~,.
"vieux frère" and uaes "toé" vhen addressing him. The Lord is ple8J5ed Od
vith the work he bas done on earth and declares him on hollda1 for eter-"
nit y, '1.
212 :aa,mond Souter, Lost and. Found, p. 98.
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J' 8US satisfait d'la vie qu 't'as faite; R'pos'-toé, ~ l'as ben méritél Serr' tes out~ls, icit', c'est fête, Fêt' légal' pour l'éternité. 213
..
This image of reward after death recurs in Coderre's poetry. In "Jasette
à Notre-Dame", we find th:iB verse:
.. ••• ~Tout's mes souffrances, j' les accept' toujours comm' mon lot, ... vu que j r perds jamais l' espérance "'\. que--1\seral récompensé en haut. 21"4
,
115
Once in a while, Coderre bas a bitter-sweet approach towards death. ~
jokes irnpudently that death will finally malte him a landlord, 6wner
six !eet of ground 1
He~ of .
,
PenSez doncl j's'rai prcipriétairel Oui, mes vieux, j'paierai plus d'loyer. J'aurai un bon lot d'six pieds d'terre; J'aurai plus besoin d'travailler. 215
A li ttle further. in the same poem, his future death and the wake that
UBuall1!;llOWS' vi th his body exposed
occuto for pokins fun at lliJaself and ""'-.
, . in bis Sunday best, becomes an
~,'. sneering ait poets~in particular,
213 Jean N.&-rache, J'Earle tout seul guand Jean N'arrache, p. 62. .",
214 Ibid. , p. 67. ~
i
215 Ibid. , p • 79. ~ "
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J's'rai ~out en noir des pie~ à tête, La fac' rasée, la bouche en coeur, Endimanché coI7lIl\p un poète Qui soupe au banquet des Auteurs. i
,Then, the raillery continues with the realization that, upon death, hiB
name will appear ih the "Obi tuaries" for three daya and he will not even
be there to see it,
Mon nom s'ra avec mon adresse Dans les décès pendant troie·soirs. Dir' qu'i parl'ront d'moi su' la Presse Et que j' B 'rai pas là pour l! voir! 216
u6
Besides, Coderre cannot understand people who fear death, since he estima-
tee it cannot be worse than living. This slmpl~ thought com!orts him vhen-
ever the thought of death interferes with his sleep. Furthermore,' Coderre
muses, death 1s 1nevitable, so wby fight it. Resignation to it 15 more -
.to the point, sinee living vas only the preparation for dying anyvay:
••• Ça sert à rien d' fair' du chiâlagel Faudra tous finir par finir, vu qu ~ vie, j'a pas d' tortillage, c.e., l' t~JIfJ qu' ça nous prend à .ourirl
7)
Further on the subject of death, the poet granta that evel'1bo~ bas to 10,
but he remarks that the poor !Sa:y soodbye differentl,. from the r1ch: the1r
funeral 1118.815 for instance, not cOllprising the salle high claas musical Q
216 Ibid., p. 80 •
l,
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"'-is delivered in a hurried Manner
Eh,benl oui, bonsoir la visitel Bonsoir. 1 y'a pas de r'venez-y, pauvr' c'est l'Libera, au plus rich' c'est la mess' de Péros1
vite, ...
Also, it ie false to etat. t~à &Very one
cannot afford té die, they die ~t: is equal in death:
--
Pour les pauvr's quand l'croqu'-mort et benl c'est le restant des écus! On a jamaie eu l' moyen d ' vivre on l'a pas pour mourir non plus!
., .. pis qu'faudra mourir à crédit. 217
arrive,
the poor
Souster's lattitude towards death is much more earneet and tense. He 18
extremely disturbed by the thought of dying, and. only in one. pOeDl do ve
- 117
f1.nd Coderre' s trusting complacency. In "All This Slow Afternoon" he pro-
mises,
l will take death tOllorrow vithout bitterneS8
provided he t8ay be allowed to enjoy today.
21 7 Ibid..-, p. 134 •
"
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Today all l aak is to be le ft alone in the vind in the sunshine, vi th the honey of li1acs down the garden. 218
In Nature alone, dues Souster find death sweet.
rustle of Autumn leaves falling he writes,
Nothing BO • fine tonight aB this sweet moving from life into death. 219
118
While listening to the ...
But when he associates Nature vith the death of a loved one, then it loses
its aweetness and becomes a relentless force. Lilac, he saye,
• •• was the colour of my brother' 8 dying for lilacs blossomed in hie last weelœ' 'lying, blossoméd, ran riot down the summer's garden~ while lUe in him shrivelled and ldeath gave no pardon. 220
We feel the poet's sense of irony as he contrasts the vitality of the lilacs
vith hie brothe~'s oozing lite. ~~n, ·in "Death and the Lilacs" the poet ~
admits that lilac8 did not mean anything in parlicular to him before hie
brother's death. He writes,
218 Raymond Souster, Lost and Found, p. 58.
219 Ibid., p. 24. .--,.-
220 ~ond Souster, The Col our of the Timea, p. 75 •
•
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l have hardly been aware of the li1aca though they have burgt into b100m bush after climbing bush, overpovering the air vith honey-scent.
- 119
In the aame poem, ve are greatly aurpriaed to diBcover that Souater finds
beauty in death even if it ia a "horrifyi.ng" one •
••• learned a new beauty digni ty of a human fighting to the last breath for life, raw horrifying beauty ••• 221
It ia probably the fignt to survive that he admires, as in "Like The Laet
Patch of Snow":
That'a the vay we 've got to hang on ! ,.
dirty-white .......: but defiant
10nely fighting death. 222
,
Thare i8 a marked contraat in the ho poet' 8 outloolt ~ death. in Coderre' e
poetry, a quiet acceptance, a total absence of the will to b.an& on to life;
in Souater, an insistence on just thia quality, and a horror of death itself.
221. Raymond SoW!t~r, Lost and FOQnd, p. 51 • • f
1 ~~.~ ~
222 Raymond'So~er, The Colonr of th. Times, p. 77.
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However, the two agree on one pO,int:
after his relative's death:
l canlt feel sad: you 1 ve escaped youlre free leaving us b~hind to battle to achieve life ••• 223
,The ''Man Dying",
o
death liberates~ ,
sits day-long through the hours cap on his head, eyes looking straight ahead
sits and feels the power in his muscles
Souster writes
slowly diminishing (a struggle to light his pipe). But when he looks at me there's no fear . in th0se eyes; death's look is there already.
sLts in his chair and it is nothing to him,'" all of it nothin!. He's done with ~ forever. 224
" The man is already liberated: nothing touches him any more, he :i8 in a
[)
state of quiet expectancy. So is the relative "uncle (who) breath~s heavily
in his hypo-ed sleep" while "our eyes lidded vith tirednelSS wait for hi.s
dying" 22.5 • - This last imag~ of the' relatives waiting for the moribund 'to
breathe h1s last SQ that they can resume their normal acti~tie8 bas a touch
223 Ibid., p. 9.5.
224 Ibid., p. 1.5 •
22.5 Ibid., "Death Watch", p. 28. r •
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'.
of the vulture about it. In another poem, SOUBter comes out frankly with
the
••• b~zard.e circ1ing his bed, waiting patiently for ~e death and his bonee? •
He ends the poem with a degraded, undignified picture of a dying man
...
. ~6 "crawling to join the dead", as a contraat to "walking with the living".
d The serial artist in "High Dive" ls not afraid of Death as BUch, but -
rather of
those eyes below, staring, staring those vultures' of life eager to tear my bones Buck my reà blood. 227
. ...
Thé persona in "The Clock in the Kitchen" wishes for death not for the ( ,
reasons of heavenly bliss that Coderre's man evoked, but as an escape trom
utter bONdom -- ) wi th 0D..\:r the th1nneet of hopes that the next morning timè chose to die all this would somehow die too. 228
226 Raymond Souster, As Is, p. 91
22.7 ~ond ~ouster, The, Colou.r of the Times, , ~p. 39 •
228 .ill!., p. 120.
/
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The pronoun "thie" refere to tlte :toutine lire he leads as weIl as hie
entire exietence. It ie a wish for death to end all. Death, according
to SOUBter should be a pri vate thing. In "The Ri tes", he 'says,
No other eyes may watch as the crisp blow falla.
That must 'be a mostOsecret laying on of agony. 229
Both our poets have gi ven a great deal of thought to death and they have
envisaged it rather different ways, each in accord vith the cultural and
religions background from which they write. Where Coderre hopes for red
birth in heaven, in accord with his Catholic heritage, Souster, a secular
Protestant, would desire "ta live again, fresh fran the begi nni ng like a
child" 230
229 ~ond Sawster, As lB, p. 29. ~
230 Raplond. Souster, The Colour of the Times, p. 13 •
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CONCLUSION
'1· As our- study of Emile Coderre and Raymond Souster progressed, ve
became more and more aware of areae of affinity and areas of incompati-
bili ty in their work.
In their perception of the poetic image, pure and simple, they meet,
on COlmnon ground, independently of their ethnic origine. For instance,
in ''Print of the Sandpiper" and in "Soli taire au bord de la grève", ve
encounter an identical vision of the sea, the beachj the same thought
occurs of the evanescence of man in creation and of the futility of hie
mark upon nature and Ume. The two poets join the ranks of a great
number of poets such as Byron, Victor Hugo, etc ••• who have expressed
.the same vision and thought. On such occasions, Coderre and Souster ~
are poets, "un point c'est tout". Souater writes,
In an hour the tide will be in, and alter i t' s gone the sand will be unmarkt and fresh, only sea's touch on it, even the tread of the aandpiper smoothed awa:y by tbat effortlesB hand. 231
. And Coderre says,
231 RaJ'mond Souter, The Colour of the Tilles, p. 12 •
•
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Solitaire aU~d de la grève JI écria sur e aa e mouvant Dea mot a qui uiaent mon rêve, Des mote qu'emportera le vent. 232
- 124
When they yearq for instant communication with their respective audiences,
again'they are univeraal in their preoccupation.
The plight of the disadvantaged and the unemployed bothers them both
tremendoualy: ~hey are being true Canadians at that point. And in their
concern for a wider range of humble, little people, they are universal
again. However, Coderre as a Quebecer was 'brought up to think that the
city la a sinful, evil place and looks towarda the country for purification;
Souater, on the other band, brought up in Ontario) bas a more balanced out-
look on life in the city and he willingly includès the newcomer and the
immigrant. In this the two poeta are difi"erent.
But it is in their outlook on religion, old age and death that we
have round the two men most incompatible. Coderre displays the Roman
Catholic reaignation of a fev yeare back, while Souater shows a more
agsreasive attitude Most of the time. The two dii"ferent cultures beh1nd
these men are slgnificant1y responaible, ve belieTe, fo~ their difterent
artietic expre8$ions.
232 EIli1e Coderre, Lea Signu tmr le Sable, p. 1 • ..
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Finally, we may observe that "The Tragedy" (for Gaston Miron) which
may have reflected a poignant reality a fev ye~s backz c.
Atter the hand-shake "Je ne parle pas anglais" "J e ne parle p~ françai'~" 233'
."-
'. . is nov on the vay to becom1ng less true, and that 1s a difference partly
overcome. Even a atudy as we have made in this paper is a form of commu-•
nication ..
233 Raplond SOWIter, The Colour of the !iae.s, p. 105. i
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BIBLIOORAPHY
1
1) List of Cri tical Worka and Anthologies Consul ted and Ci ted ,
~lombo, John Robert and Jacques Godbout, Poésie 1 PoetE(' Montréal, 1963.
Conron, Brandon, Guy Sylvestre and Carl F. Klinck, Canadian Writers 1 Ecrivains canadiens, Montréal, 1966"
Desbiens, Jean-Paul, Lea Insolences du Frère Untel, ~6ntréal, 1960.
Dudek, Loo 1a and Mi'chael Gnarowski, The Making of Modern poetq in Canada, Toronto, 1967.
Dudek, Louis, Canadian Poems 1850-1952, Toronto, 1952.
Fournier, Jules, Anthologie des Poètes canadiens, Montréal; 1933.
Gustafson, Ralph, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, London, 1967.
Hambleton, Ronald, "Unit of Fi ve, Toronto, 1944.
Klinck, Carl F., Li terary History of Canada.. Canadien Literature in Engliah, Toronto, ï967~
Levin, Harry and others, Essaya in Comparative Literature, Washington, 1961. "
Marcotte, Gilles, Une li t'tirature gui se rait, Montréal, 1962.
Moisan, Clément, L'âge d'or de la littérature canadienne. Essais, Mont-réal, 1969. c
Pierce, Lome, An Outline or Canadian LiteNlture, Toronto, 1927.
RoY', Mgr Camille, Manue;k, d' histoire de la littérature canadienne de lanp1e française, Montrial, 1939.
Smith, A.J.M., The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, Toronto, 1968.
Smith, A.J.H. ~ The Book of Canadian Poetr;r. A Critical and Historical Anthololl, Toronto, 1957.
Saith, A.J.H., Maaks of Po~tEl' Toronto, 1968.
Stallkneckt, Newton Phelps and Horst J'ranz, COIIIRarati Te Li terature J Method and Per!p!ct1ve, Carbondale, 1961.
•
•
•
~ '-' Story, Norah, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History ana Lj.terature,
Toronto, 1967.
Sylvestre, Guy, Anthologie de la poésie canadienne française, Montréal, 1963.
Tougas, Gérard, Mstory of 'French Canada Li terature, Toronto, 1968.
Viotte, Auguste, Histoire littéraire de l'Amérique française, Québec, 1954. ~
"
Wilson, Milton, poetry of Mid-Century 1940-1960, Toronto, 1~64.
Woodcock, George, A Choice of Critica, "Groundhog among the Stars" by Louis Dudek, Toronto, 1966.
B) Historical Worka Cited and Consulted
Bruchési, Jean, Histoire du Canada, Montré~, 1959.
Bliss, J.M., Canadian Hietory in pocumente, 1763-1966, Toronto, 1966.
Brunet, Michel, Histoire du Canada par les textes, Montréal, 1952.
Carelees, J.M.S., Canada. A StoEl of Challenge, Toronto, 1963.
Cook, 'Ramsay, John T." Saywel1 and John C. Richer, Canada. A Modern Stugy, Toronto, 1967.
Frégault, Guy and Marcel Trudel, Histoire du Canada par les textes, Montréal, 1963.
- 127
Groulx, Lionel, Hietoire du Canada français depuis la déc oBverte, Montréal, 1952.
ù
Wade, Mason, The French-Canadians, 1760-1967, Toronto, 1968.
Woodcock, George, Canada one Hundred, 1867-1967, Canada Year Book, ottawa, 1967.
Woodcock, George, Canada and the Canadians, Torontoi 1970.
\
c) Chrono1ogical Liat of SoUister' e Work.! o
Souster, Raymond, When are Are Youas, Montréa:t, 1946.-
ô
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f./J CI .
Souater, Raymond, Go To Sleep, Worl~ Toronto, 1947.
" " " "
" "
" " " " " "
" "
" "
" " u
" "
" " " "
City Hall Street, Toronto, 1951. " o
Cerbe Dudek Jrvi
U \ J
ond
Selected Poems, chosen bl Louis Dudek, Toronto, 1956. ~ u
A Local Pride, Toronto, 1962.
Téh Elephants on Yonge Street; poems, Toronto, 1965. v
New Wave in Canad~i the new explosion to Canadian poetEl, Toronto, 1966. v
As ls, Toronto, 1~67. V .J 1~<"-
The Co1ottr of the Times, Tb~to, 1968._,
Lost and Found, Toronto, 1968.
So Far So Good: '.,E0ams, 1938-1968, ottawa, Q:~9.
, Made in Canada: new poems of the seventies, ottava~ 1970. ()
Generation Now, Don Mills, 1970.
o
D) Chronolqgical List of Coderre's Worka
Caderre, Emile, Les Signes sur le Sable, Montréal, 1922.
ct.:>.
" "
"
"
"
" -" J'parl' pour parler, Montréal, \939.
"
"
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Vers ramanchés et ièces noavelles
" J'parle tout seul quand ~~.an Narrache, Montréal, 1961.
Jean Narrache chez le 'di1Lble, Montréal, 1963.
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'-
E) List of Rev:iews, Magazines, Articles Corurul ted and Used
Anonymous, "The Private World of Raymond Sousterll, in TilDe (Canada Edi- \
tion), June 12, 1964. ---- \ \
:Bayle, Raymond, "J'parle pour psIler", in La Revue Moderne, vol. 21, 1
Montréal, juin 1939.
Bruchési, Jean, "Dana le monde des lettresll , in La Revue Moderne, vol. 14, Montréal, novembre 1932. \ "~-"
Brown, E.K., "Recent Poetry from Canada", in Poetry, Chicl'lg.Q4- LX~ )Vol.· 6, March 1947. /))
Daniella, Roy, "Microcosm of our Moving World", in Canadian Lite/.e, Vancouver, Autumn 1966.
Dollard, Dan.sereau, "Le Canadien-franc;ais se cherche", in Quartier Latin, Mont.réal J 1933.
Fulford, Robert, liOn Raymond Souster. A Good Toronto Poet Toronto Never Discovered", in Maclean's, LXXVII, vol. 8, April 18, 1964.
Laurendeau, André, "Actualités", in Le Devoir, Montréal, 1959. Ci
Nims, John Frédérick, "F:t-ve Young Canadian Poets ll , in Poetry, Chicago, LXVI, vol. 6, September 1945.
Poisson, Roch, "Jean Narrache revient à la surface", in Photo-Journal, Montréal; 1967.
Raymond, Louis-Marcel, "La littérature canadienne-française contemporaine", in Le Devoir, Montréal, 1949.
Tougas, Gérard, "Regards sur nos lettres", in Histor: -of French-Canadian Literature, Toronto, ~966.
Treyvaud, Jean-Jacques, "Le Pbète des gueux: Jean Narrache", in Ici Radio-Canada, Mont-réal, 1967.
" -F) List of ether Books Mentioned or Consulted
RelIer, Joseph, Catch 22, New York, 1964.
Kohout, Pavel, Auguste, AUguste, AUguste, Prague, 1967.
La Pierre, Laurier, ébec: hier une antholo e de la ~~~--~----~~~~~~~.-----------~-------pensée canad~enne-française,
- 1)0
'. Major, André, t~ Cabochon, Montréal, 1964.
McDonough 1 John Thomas, Charbanneau et 1e Chef, Québec, 1972.
Renaud, Jacques, Le Cassé, Montréal, 1964.
Richard, Jean-Jules, Le Feu dans 1t~ante, Montréal, 1972. t:;,
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