I created a playlist for my survey of Canadian literature course. This one covers the first term: contact literature to the end of modernism. The syllabus with musical accompaniment is below. If you think of any good pairings, please do make suggestions in your comments. My preference is for Canadian musicians, but that’s obviously not a strict rule. I love to play with my playlists. I’m currently wondering where best to put Metric….
Canadian Literature
ENG252Y LO101
♫Syllabus with Musical Accompaniment I♫
With thanks to Nick Mount for the idea.
Introduction
Thomas King “Coyote Columbus Story”
♫
“Coyote Dance” Robbie Robertson
Exploration Literature
Samuel Hearne from “A Journey”
David Thompson from “Narrative of His Explorations”
John Franklin and Dr. John Richardson from “Narrative of a Journey”
Margaret Atwood “The Age of Lead”
♫
“Northwest Passage” Stan Rogers
“We Are Singing the Good Songs” Iroquois Women Singers
Travel & Settlement Literature
Anna Brownell Jameson from Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada
Catharine Parr Traill from The Backwoods of Canada
Susanna Moodie from Roughing It in the Bush
Margaret Atwood from The Journals of Susanna Moodie
♫
“My Name (Ode to Susanna Moodie)” Night Sun
“A Canadian Song” Night Sun
Early Representations of Canada’s First Nations
George Copway (handout) and E. Pauline Johnson
Harry Robinson “Captive in an English Circus”
Emily Carr “Kitwancool”
♫
“Emily Carr” The Wheat Pool
Major John Richardson Wacousta
♫
“Horses” Rheostatics
“Holy Mackinaw Joe” (hockey announcer Joe Bowen’s famous phrase; Mackinaw is another name for Michillimackinac)
Confederation Poets
Charles G. D. Roberts
Archibald Lampman
Duncan Campbell Scott
♫
“Tantramar Station” Great Plains
Social and Political Satire
Sara Jeanette Duncan from The Imperialist
Stephen Leacock “The Marine Excursions of the Knights of Pythias”
♫
see Moxie Fruvus below
World War I
Charles Yale Harrison Generals Die in Bed
Charles G.D. Roberts “Going Over”
Duncan Campbell Scott “Canadian Aviator”
Jane Urquhart from The Stone Carvers
J.G. Sime “Munitions!”
♫
“Oh, It’s a Lovely War”
“Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag”
“Elegy for Strings Op 58” Elgar
Modernist Poetry
E.J. Pratt
E.J. Pratt Towards the Last Spike
F.R. Scott
A.J.M. Smith
Earle Birney
Dorothy Livesay
♫
“Canadian Railroad Trilogy” Gordon Lightfoot
Lightfoot’s musical epic
“My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors” Moxy Fruvous
a contemporary echo of Scott’s satirical look at the writing scene
“Poets” Tragically Hip
“Night and Day” Cole Porter
the inspiration for Livesay’s “Day and Night”
Modernist Fiction
Ethel Wilson Swamp Angel
♫
“Hockey Skates” Kathleen Edwards
a latter day Maggie escapes love gone wrong: “You can meet me at 10:30 but I won’t be there I’ll be gone”
“Lodestar” Sarah Harmer
Bridging Modern and Postmodern
Sheila Watson The Double Hook
♫
“Old Coyote” The Weepies
“O Fortunata” from Carmina Burana Carl Orff London Symphony Orchestra
“O Fortune, like the moon you are constantly changing, ever waxing and waning”
Woohoo! What a feast! I’ll be back.. again.. and again..
This is awesome! Some really great pairings!
What a great idea this is. In the category of Exploration Literature I would recommend “Lord Franklin.”
Here it is as sung by Martin Carthy:
Somewhere we have a truly haunting early version but I’ve no idea of the name of the singer.
I love this idea, and I love the pairings! The only one I’d add is a piece by Loreena McKennitt to accompany the Confederation Poets. Her version of Lampman’s “Snow” is haunting.
I don’t think I’ve heard that one. Great!
Sara:
“Lord Franklin”, also known by the older “Lady Franklin’s Lament”, is one of my favourite pieces of music. Some people collect books and some, ahem, collect different varieties of Post-It Notes and lipstick (yes, yes, they are indeed cheaper than purses and shoes!); I collect different versions and interpretations of “Lord Franklin/Lady Franklin’s Lament”. I have about 25 versions now (at $0.99 a song, how can one reasonably resist?!? And they are even cheaper than Post-It Notes and lipstick.) and only stopped because of a self-enforced iTunes budget for such things.
The version that I most adore is the version by Take Two. There is just something that so resonates with me with this song, makes me pause and focus, draws me in. I also like the versions by the Carmina version (on her My Crescent City album) and Sinead O’Connor. For a more modern, alt rock but mellow, there is the version by Pentangles.
And now, having fully demonstrated the extent of the geeky/nerdiness Nathalie has to deal with on a daily basis, I’ll end my already too-long comment.
(However, if you are interested in the song and I managed to pique your interest, I did post this little write-up on it some time ago.)
Bless ‘im.
Thanks, all.
Fantastic choices: makes me wish I was surveying your class!