Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 30 text:

28 The; Branksome Slogan To a Puddle Ancient and Modern Dost thou dream dark-brown dreams of a puddle passing maidens, brown brother of a thousand And clattering carts, to spatter them oceans — long since dead. with mire? nursing Or dost thou think a second Raleigh next to your mud-lined Cometh heart that pitiful emblem To save another fair queen ' s fo»t of attire? wasted life — an Or dost thou smile to think on lads with eggshell. nutshells, The last spring rain finds Who make of thy small muddiness a the sea? dying puddle And cast their walnut boats upon thy a puddle waters, still. Hungering for roses, Only to founder where thy tempests ling ering by its be. side — an onion is dying — ■ and a foetid aura Stay — dost thou ponder on thine ageless surrounds its splendor, death. Returning to the heavens, turned to Still the rain — puddle oozes over An airy cloud, with all earth for its foot- the cracked pavement stool — into the Only to come to thine own mud gutter! again. L. TEDMAN, Form V. To illustrate the almost incomprehensible change from the easily understood poetry of former times, to the strange, unintelligible words and strings of words which go to make up modern poetry.

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The Branksome Slogan 27 He comes from o ' er the water, a new And he ' s groping rather blindly for the home here to seek, things he knows are best. And the language of our country is a He ' s a power for good or evil, he will tongue he cannot speak. hate us or revere, He has sought the land of freedom for And become a friend or traitor for the the dream is in his breast, way we treat him here. The Literature of Canada Extracts from one of the prize-winning speeches at the Oratorical Contest, By JOAN KNOWLTON. .... It is quite evident that the literature of Canada is as yet but in the rough; for before the movement which made us a nation, the country was so unsettled that the small com- munities gave but little thought to education and scholarly talents. Their days were much too busy building and defending their homes and villages. . . . .... This period gave birth to little but a flood of political pamphlets whose only value is to the historian. Although Canada ' s literature is essen- tially an ofl ' spring of that of the Mother Country, it is not devoid of originality. Much of it possesses the spirit of free- dom and the youthful vigor characteristic of the country. Accordingly our contri- bution to the literature of the world is not to be despised, although still in its infancy. Stories have been- written of the early fur-trading days, stories that spring from no other land than ours. . . . The novel of history has been celebrated by Sir Gilbert Parker in The Seats of the Mighty, in which the romance of the early days in Quebec is set forth. Another interesting and original con- tribution to literature is the wild animal story. ... In these we are taken into the great spaces of forest and lake, moun- tain and valley, where we catch enchant- ing glimpses of the wild life; of moose, deer, bear, and fox. Allan Sullivan, of Toronto, has lately published Under the Northern Lights, a collection of tales dealing with the strenuous life of men in our far northern spaces. . . . .... The works of Ralph Connor describing early days on the prairie and in the lumber camps are popular in other lands than ours. . . . .... While a great deal of the Canadian poetry is rather ordinary, it is rapidly improving and developing. Archi- bald Lampman, Wilfred Campbell, Charles G. D. Roberts and Bliss Carman have all written lines well worth remem- bering. Their nature poems are particu- larly vivid in describing scenes peculiarly Canadian. . . . .... Pauline Johnson and Marjorie Pickthall have also risen to a high level among women writers. Pauline John- son, being a Canadian Indian, writes of the outdoors, and her short poems are so full of its spirit that they appeal to every reader. . . . .... The habitant poems of Dr. W. H. Drummond stand in a class by themselves, between the English-Canadian and the French-Canadian, presenting the simple life of the habitant with unique humor and picturesqueness. Of course, it would be impossible to mention all the authors and poets who have distinguished themselves. . . . .... And thus, although as yet we may not have produced a Dickens or a Tennyson, we are not boasting when we say that our contribution to the literature of the world is already respected and its future prospects are bright.

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Ths; Branksome; Slogan 29 The Basketball Team. The Settler ' s Home It sits afar back in the hills, And North winds show no mercy there, Down in the valley, around it shrills That tempest, as though fill ' d with care. It pours out its thoughts in that lone spot, And flowers hidden far below Would almost waken from their sleep, By those shrill blasts of wind and snow That only a short time ago Had lulled to let the air breath free, In that bleak, white Eternity! JOYCE TEDMAN, Form II.