Editing Margaret Avison

{{Short description|Canadian poet (1918–2007)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]]. --> 
| name          = Margaret Avison
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| birth_date    = April 23, 1918
| birth_place   = [[Galt, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2007|7|31|1918|4|23}}
| death_place   = [[Toronto]], Ontario
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| language      = English 
| education     = 
| alma_mater    = [[Victoria University, Toronto|Victoria University]]
| period        = 
| genre         = Poetry
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| notableworks  = {{Ubl | ''Winter Sun'' | ''The Dumbfounding'' | ''Concrete and Wild Carrot'' | ''No Time''}}
| spouse        = 
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| influences    = 
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| awards        = {{Ubl | [[Governor General's Award]] | [[Officer of the Order of Canada]] | [[Griffin Poetry Prize]]}}
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'''Margaret Avison''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (April 23, 1918 &ndash; July 31, 2007) was a [[Canadian poetry|Canadian poet]] who twice won Canada's [[Governor General's Award]] and has also won its [[Griffin Poetry Prize]].<ref name=gnarowski>Michael Gnarowski, "[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/margaret-avison/ Avison, Margaret]," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 156.</ref> According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Her work has been praised for the beauty of its language and images."<ref name=britannica/>

==Early life and education==

Avison, the daughter of a Methodist minister, was born in [[Cambridge, Ontario|Galt]], [[Ontario]], in 1918.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/margaret-avison-fonds|title=Margaret Avison fonds - University of Manitoba Archives|website=umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-03}}</ref> She moved to [[Regina, Saskatchewan]], in 1920, and [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], a few years later.<ref name=":0" /> Her family moved again, in 1930, to [[Toronto]], Ontario.<ref name=":0" /> She attended [[Alma College (St. Thomas, Ontario)|Alma College]], located in [[St. Thomas, Ontario|St. Thomas]], [[Ontario]], ca. 1935.<ref>"[http://inmagic.elgin-county.on.ca/ask/permalink/26770/ Alma College Composite Class Photograph, 1935 - Margaret Avison]," Elgin County Archives, Web, Oct. 21, 2014.</ref> As a teenager she was hospitalized for [[Anorexia nervosa|anorexia]].<ref name=quill/>

She attended [[Victoria University, Toronto|Victoria College at the University of Toronto]], entering in 1936 and getting her [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in 1940<ref name=":0" /> (and returning to pick up her [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in 1965).<ref name="cpo">"[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/avison/index.htm Margaret Avison: Biography]," Canadian Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref> Before she finished her B.A. she was a published poet; the poem "Gatineau" appeared in the Canadian Poetry Magazine in 1939.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, she began publishing poetry in the college magazine, [[Acta Victoriana]].<ref name=argot>"[http://www.r-go.ca/Margaret_Avison.htm Margaret Avison, Canadian Poet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723132231/http://www.r-go.ca/Margaret_Avison.htm |date=2011-07-23 }}," Argot Language Centre, Web, Apr. 3, 2011.</ref>

==Career==
Besides writing poetry, Avison worked a variety of other jobs, such as working as a file clerk, proofreader, and editor.<ref name=":0" /> She also worked in the Registrar's Office and Library at the University of Toronto.<ref name=":0" /> Avison worked as a [[librarian]], was a [[social worker]] at the [[Presbyterian Church]] Mission in Toronto, and taught at [[Scarborough College]].<ref name=quill/><ref name=gnarowski/> She wrote most of her poetry in her spare time,<ref name=foundation/> and chose paying jobs which left her time to write. She didn't apply for a [[Canada Council]] grant.<ref name=quill>Zachariah Wells, "[http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=6749 Book Review: I Am Here and Not Not-There]," Quill & Quire (December 2009), Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref>

In 1951 Avison's junior high school textbook, ''History of Ontario'', was published.<ref name=argot/>

As mentioned previously, Avison's poem "Gatineau" appeared in ''Canadian Poetry Magazine'' in 1939. In 1943, anthologist [[A.J.M. Smith]] included her poetry in his ''Book of Canadian Poetry''.<ref name="gnarowski"/> (In her autobiography, she mentions a "chaste skinny dip" with Smith.)<ref name=quill/>

In 1956 Avison received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant;<ref name=":0" /> she spent eight months in the [[United States]] and was able to attend classes at the universities of [[University of Chicago|Chicago]] and [[Indiana University|Indiana]].<ref name=":0" /> She ghostwrote a book entitled ''A Doctor's Memoir'' and wrote her first book of poetry, ''Winter Sun.''<ref name=":0" /> It was published in 1960 and won the [[1960 Governor General's Awards|Governor General's Award]].<ref name=":0" />

Avison was moved by the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Uprising of 1956]] and translated eight Hungarian poems that then appeared in ''The Plough and The Pen''  - this brought recognition to various twentieth century Hungarian poets.<ref name=":0" /> Avison successfully completed her M.A. at the University of Toronto, but while she began a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] she did not [[Matriculation|matriculate]] as she did not write a thesis.<ref name=":0" />

Avison converted to [[Christianity]] (from [[agnosticism]]) in 1963.<ref name="quill" /> She wrote about that experience in her second book of poetry, ''The Dumbfounding'' (1966).<ref name="cbc">"[https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/canadian-poet-margaret-avison-dies-at-89-1.675146 Canadian poet Margaret Avison dies at 89"], ''CBC News: Arts and Entertainment'', Aug. 10, 2007, Web, Apr. 4, 2011.</ref>

Avison taught at Scarborough Hall, University of Toronto, between 1966 and 1968, and also volunteered at [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] mission named Evangel Hall during this time.<ref name=":0" /> Avison was writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario for eight months in 1973.<ref name=":0" /> From 1973 to 1978 she worked in the archives division of the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC). In 1978 she joined Toronto's Mustard Seed Mission as a secretary,<ref name=":0" /> and worked there until her retirement in 1986.<ref name="cpo" />

Avison became an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]] in 1984.<ref name=foundation/>

Her fourth collection of poems, ''No Time'', came out in 1990, and won her a second [[1990 Governor General's Awards|Governor General's Award]].<ref name=globe>Noor Javed, "[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/article775181.ece Poet Avison's 'incalculable' contribution to Canadian literature] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805095817/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/article775181.ece |date=2011-08-05 }}," ''Globe & Mail'', Aug. 10, 2007. Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref>

In [[2003 in poetry|2003]] Avison's ''Concrete and Wild Carrot'' won the Griffin Poetry Prize.<ref name=gnarowski/> "Lauding Avison as 'a national treasure,' Griffin Poetry Prize judges praised the 'sublimity' and 'humility' of her poetry -- which they described as 'some of the most humane, sweet and profound poetry of our time.'"<ref name=treasure>"[http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=27c1869a-53ca-42a9-9cde-7c21e92ffef5 Canada loses 'national treasure' with death of prize-winning poet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929100236/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=27c1869a-53ca-42a9-9cde-7c21e92ffef5 |date=2007-09-29 }}," ''Vancouver Sun'', Aug. 11, 2007. Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref>

Avison was honoured for her contributions to Canadian literature by various honorary degrees: Acadia University (1983), York University (1985), and Victoria University (1988).

Margaret Avison died in [[Toronto]] on July 31, 2007, age 89, from undisclosed causes.

==Writing==
Avison can be considered a [[Spirituality|spiritual]] or metaphysical poet; "her work is often described by reviewers as introspective, observant, and deeply spiritual."<ref name=foundation/> "Many critics compare her work to the great [[metaphysical poets]] of the 17th century."<ref name="cbc"/>

''[[The Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' describes her as a "Canadian poet who revealed the progress of an interior spiritual journey in her three successive volumes of poetry," referring to her first three books, ''Winter Sun'', ''The Dumbfounding'', and ''sunblue''.<ref name=britannica>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Avison Margaret Avison]," ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Britannica Online, Web, Apr. 3, 2011.</ref>

With ''Winter Sun'', "Avison established herself as a difficult and introspective poet given to private images and subtle shadings of emotion that challenge and frustrate the reader" (says ''[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]])''. "These complexities in her writing conceal a deeply religious and vulnerable sensibility."<ref name=gnarowski/> "In this volume the poet's subject matter varies from [[environmental destruction]] and the plight of the [[Poverty|poor]] to metaphysical ponderings and playful explorations of language. Avison's emphasis is on looking at the familiar in new and thought-provoking ways."<ref name=argot/> "One of Avison's principal concerns in ''Winter Sun'' is perception, and she consistently emphasizes looking at the familiar in new and thought-provoking ways. [[Ernest H. Redekop]] has argued that 'there is a profound sense in Avison's poems that the world must not be forced into ordinary limits of sight and articulation.' In the poem "Perspective," for instance, Avison attacks linear perspective."<ref name="enotes">"[http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/avison-margaret-vol-97 Margaret Avison]," eNotes.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2011.</ref>

''The Dumbfounding'' was "a more accessible record of spiritual discovery, and a more revealing account of the unmasked, narrative 'I.'"<ref name=gnarowski/> In this work, "Avison expresses her wonder at her own rediscovered [[faith]]. It employs the same poetic techniques as ''Winter Sun'', but here the poet is no longer searching for meaning. "Truth" has been identified as the presence of a personal, loving, and forgiving [[God]]."<ref name=enotes/>

"This was further developed in ''sunblue'' (1978), a combination of social concern and moral values fused by religious conviction and a continuing restatement of personal faith."<ref name=gnarowski/> "Both s''unblue'' and ''No Time'' reconfirm Avison's commitment to her Christian faith.... In conjunction with their Christian themes, Avison's poems often celebrate the creative power of the imagination as well as examining the concept of paradoxes and depicting people and landscapes from conflicting viewpoints."<ref name=enotes/>

"Avison has the reputation of being a cerebral poet. Her work has been characterized as 'intellectual'" and 'deliberate'; her use of word-play, disconcerting shifts in viewpoint, complex [[metaphors]], and literary [[allusions]] make her poetry a challenge to read."<ref name=argot/> "The thing with her poetry is that you must grapple with it, it just does not open up. Its rewards come only to those are willing to make the effort," said Zezulka. "Her poems were not snacks, they were full meals."<ref name=cbc/>

"Reviewers have praised the poet for using complex language not as an end in itself, but to accurately convey her subject matter: the love and power of [[God]]." While "some [[secularist]] critics find her post-conversion poetry too [[dogmatic]]," her defenders "claim that the purpose of Avison's poetry goes beyond that of simple religious [[proselytizing]]."<ref name=argot/>

Reviewing Avison's posthumous collection, ''Listening: Last Poems'' (2007), poet [[Judith Fitzgerald]] wrote of her: "An original, an authentic visionary ... Avison praises [[:wikt:creation|Creation]] in all its transplendent awesome/awful mutations."<ref name=foundation>"[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/margaret-avison Margaret Avison (1918-2007)]," Poetry Foundation, Web, Apr. 3, 2011.</ref>

The [[University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections]] holds the [https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/margaret-avison-fonds Margaret Avison Fonds].<ref name=":0" /> The fonds consist of textual records, photographs, audio-cassettes, compact discs, computer- diskettes, and CD-ROMs. Textual materials include, but are not limited to, unpublished poetry, correspondence, theses, essays, and poems.<ref name=":0" /> Margaret Calverley has written about this collection in her article "The Avison Collection at the University of Manitoba: Poems 1929-1989."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://canadianpoetry.org/volumes/vol28/calverley.html|title=The Avison Collection at the University of Manitoba: Poems 1929-1989|last=Calverley|first=Margaret|website=Canadianpoetry.org|access-date=August 6, 2019}}</ref>

==Publications==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=79128508 }}

===Poetry===
*''Winter Sun''. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1960. London, UK: Routledge, Kegan Paul, 1960.
*''The Dumbfounding''. New York: Norton, 1966.
*''The Cosmic Chef Glee & [[Pilaf|Perloo]] Memorial Society under the direction of Captain Poetry presents an evening of concrete'' (poems by Margaret Avison [and others] edited by B.P. Nichol.); courtesy Oberon Cement Works. Ottawa: Oberon P, 1970.
*''sunblue''. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot P, 1978.
*''Winter Sun/ The Dumbfounding: poems, 1940-66''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1982.
*''Margaret Avison: Selected Poems''. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1991.
*''No Time''. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot P, 1989; London, ON: Brick Books, 1998.
*''Not Yet but Still''. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot P, 1997; London, ON: Brick Books, 1998.
*''Concrete and Wild Carrot''. London, ON: Brick Books, 2002. (winner of the 2003 Canadian [[Griffin Poetry Prize]])
*''Always Now: The Collected Poems''. (in three volumes) Erin, ON: [[Porcupine's Quill]], 2003–2005.
*''Momentary Dark''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006.
*''Listening: The Last Poems of Margaret Avison''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2009.

=== Prose ===
* ''I am Here and Not Not-There: An Autobiography''. [[Porcupine's Quill]], 2009
* ''A Kind of Perseverance''. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot Press, 1994
* ''A Doctor's Memoirs'' (from papers and conversations with Dr. [[A. I. Wolinsky]]) [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], 1960
* ''Acta Sanctorum'' (translation in collaboration with Ilona Duczynska & Peter Owen, 1966)
* ''History of Ontario'' [for Grade VII] [illustrations by [[Selwyn Dewdney]]]. Toronto : [[W. J. Gage]], 1951.
* ''The research compendium; review and abstracts of graduate research'', 1942–1962. [Toronto] [[University of Toronto Press]] [c1964]

<small>''Source for list of publications: "100 Canadian Poets" and the  Margaret Avison page at Canadian Poetry Online]''.</small><ref name=cpopub>"[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/avison/pub.htm Margaret Avison: Published Works]," Canadian Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref>

==Works on Margaret Avison==

===Books===
*Kent, David, ed. ''Lighting Up The Terrain: The Poetry of Margaret Avison''. Toronto: ECW, 1987.
*Kent, David A. ''Margaret Avison and Her Works''. Toronto: ECW, 1989.
*Mazoff, Chaim D. ''Waiting for the Son: Images of Release and Restoration in Margaret Avison's Poetry''. Dunvegan, Ont.: Cormorant, 1989.

===Articles===
*Anderson, Mia. "Conversation with the Star Messenger: An Enquiry into Margaret Avison's Winter Sun." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Literature Canadienne (SCL), 6.1 (1981): 82–132.
*Bowen, Deborah. "Phoenix from the Ashes: Lorna Crozier and Margaret Avison in Contemporary Mourning." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. 40 (1997): 46–57.
*Calverley, Margaret. "'Service Is Joy': Margaret Avison's Sonnet Sequence in Winter Sun."Essays on Canadian Writing. 50 (1993): 210-30.
*"The Avison Collection at the University of Manitoba: Poems 1929-89." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. 28 (1991): 54–84.
*Cohn-Sfetcu, Ofelia. "To Live in Abundance of Life: Time in Canadian Literature." Canadian Literature. 76 (1978): 25–36.
*Guptara, Prabhu S. "A Dark Reservoir of Gladness: Margaret Avison's Third Volume of Verse."The Literary Criterion. 16.1 (1981): 42-45.
*Jones, Lawrence M. "A Core of Brilliance: Margaret Avison's Achievement." Canadian Literature. 38 (1968): 50–57.
*Kent, David A. "Wholehearted Poetry; Halfhearted Criticism." Essays on Canadian Writing. 44 (1991): 67–78.
*Mazoff, David. "Through the Son: An Explication of Margaret Avison's 'Person.'" Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. 22: (1988): 40–48.
*Moisan, Clement. "Rina Lasnier et Margaret Avison." Liberte. 108 (1976): 21–33.
*New, William H. "The Mind's (I's) (Ice): The Poetry of Margaret Avison." Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal. 16 (1970): 185–202.
*Quinsey, K. M. "The Dissolving Jail-Break in Avison." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. 25 (1989): 21–37.
*Redekop, Ernest H. "Sun/Son Light/Light: Avison's Elemental Sunblue." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews. 7 (1980): 21–37.
*Somerville, Christine. "The Shadow of Death: Margaret Avison's 'Just Left or The Night Margaret Laurence Died.'" New, W. H. (ed.). Inside the Poem: Essays and Poems in Honour of Donald Stephens. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1992: 55–59.
*Sullivan, R. "The Territory of Conscience: The Poetry of Margaret Avison." Literary Half-Yearly." 32.1 (1991): 43-55.
*Zezulka, J. M. "Refusing the Sweet Surrender: Margaret Avison's 'Dispersed Titles'" Canadian Poetry 1 (1977): 44–53.
*Zichy, Francis. "'Each in His Prison/Thinking of the Key': Images of Confinement and Liberation in Margaret Avison." Studies in Canadian Literature. 3 (1978): 232–43.

<small>''Source for list of publications: "100 Canadian Poets" and the [http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/avison/crit.htm Margaret Avison page at Canadian Poetry Online]''</small>.<ref name=cpocrit>"[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/avison/crit.htm Margaret Avison: Criticism]," Canadian Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, Apr. 2, 2011.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Poetry|Biography|Canada|Ontario}}
*[[Canadian literature]]
*[[Canadian poetry]]
*[[List of Canadian poets]]
*[[List of Canadian writers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://atom.library.yorku.ca/index.php/margaret-avison-fonds Margaret Avison archives] held at [[Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections]], [[York University Libraries]]
*[https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/margaret-avison-fonds Margaret Avison fonds] held at [[University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections]]

{{Governor General's English poetry|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avison, Margaret}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Swedish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian women poets]]
[[Category:Converts to Christianity]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award–winning poets]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:People from Cambridge, Ontario]]
[[Category:Writers from the Regional Municipality of Waterloo]]
[[Category:Poets from Ontario]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women writers]]