Dim ports of peace and mystery.
• • • •
He sees the white mists softly curl,
He sees the moon drift pale and wan,
Sees Venus climb the stars of pearl
To hold her court of Love at dawn.
Jean Blewett is chiefly loved by the people for her forte—her sincere, simple singing of true love and faith, of childhood, and the field flowers, and the joys of the Canadian Spring and Winter. But, as a genre poet, she is gifted with a whimsical humor which is quite unique in the poetic literature of Canada. For He was Scotch and So Was She is a fetching example of Jean Blewett’s humor and humorous treatment of a simple or homely subject and is to be found in many Canadian anthologies.
Francis Sherman, one of the truest and most individual poets that Canada has produced, is a relative of Charles G. D. Roberts and Bliss Carman. His literary output has been meagre, comprising only one regularly published volume, a small, thin booklet, Matins (1896), and three or four privately printed pamphlets of verse. But the quality is sufficient to fix his place in the company of the authentic Canadian poets of the First Renaissance.
Sherman’s poetry shows a distinct tendency to mysticism. He was, evidently, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite School. But he had an independent individuality. He possessed, as a poet, eyes and feelings of his own; and could express what he saw and felt, with ready and confident artistry. The Pre-Raphaelite influence on Francis Sherman and his own natural gifts for individual expression are disclosed in Between the Battles (from Matins):—
Let us bury him here