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List of Poets Comments |
Emily Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)
Pauline Johnson was an extremely popular poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Due to her reputation as a "popular" writer, her work was discounted by academics, yet her name is widely known to the general public to this day. As a poet with two traditions, Johnson bridged the gulf between her Native and European backgrounds. Her work presents pride in her cultural heritage, as well as the paradox of writing English poetry on Native themes for a non-Native audience. Johnson was born on March 10, 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford,Ontario. She was the daughter of the head chief, G.H. Johnson, a Mohawk leader, and his English wife, Emily Susanna Howells. Johnson’s informal education made her familiar with the Victorian poets and she was also told tales and legends by her Mohawk grandfather. It was these two streams of culture which she combined in her literary work. Her writings showed both a passion for First Nations legends and cultural values, and a heroic tone of English poetry. Johnson’s early poetry appeared in the New York magazine Gems of Poetry in 1884 and thereafter in other magazines in Britain and North America. She was hailed by Theodore Watts-Dunton as an authentic "Indian" voice in Canadian poetry in his review of Songs of the Great Dominion, an anthology which contained several of Johnson’s poems. Her career blossomed when she was included in a group of poets who were reading at the Young Liberal Club of Toronto. This event led to invitations for several more readings. Johnson secured public attention by embarking on a series of reading tours between 1892 and 1910 in Canada, the United States and Britain. She visited many remote settlements where the residents saw few other forms of entertainment. This was the "golden age" of travelling entertainment in Canada and Johnson’s poetic readings were presented as stage performances. She employed the mystique of Indian culture to appeal to her non-Native audiences: she adopted the Mohawk name Tekahionwake (which meant the "double wampum") and performed at many of her readings dressed as an Indian princess in fringed buckskin clothing, a beaded headdress and moccasins. When Johnson visited England in 1894, in addition to giving recitations, she arranged for the publication of her first book, The White Wampum (1895). This collection focuses on First Nations themes, particularly emphasizing strength of character and resolve to retain traditional beliefs. Johnson was writing for her stage performances in a voice meant for the stage. By our present-day standards, her writing style might be criticized as being excessively theatrical, but in her time this passionate language appealed to a wide audience. Johnson’s second book Canadian Born (1903) employs the theme of Canadian nationalism and the nation's struggle with an identity born under British rule. This volume contains only two poems on a Native theme. Illness forced Johnson to retire from touring. She settled in Vancouver in 1909. In 1911, she wrote a series of stories for the Daily Provincebased on West Coast Indian legends as they were told to her by her friend Chief Joseph Capilano. These stories were published as a collection in a book entitled Legends of Vancouver (1911) which became extremely popular. They presented Native culture from the western Canadian perspective. Flint and Feather (1912), Johnson’s most famous book, appeared in 1912 and puts together the poems from the first two collections, alongside previously unpublished verse. A second volume of prose, The Shagganappi (1913), a collection of adventure stories, was published in the following year. Johnson died on March 7, 1913. Her ashes were buried in Stanley Park, Vancouver, after a large public procession. Shortly after her death, Johnson’s last collection of stories was published; The Moccasin Maker includes "My Mother", a reminiscence on her parents’ courtship, in which Johnson explores the theme of interracial marriage. Johnson’s fictional and poetic work has not been favoured by academics because of its popular style and emotional overtones. But recently, writers and biographers have re-examined the work of a Native author presenting herself to a white audience in imagery which was widely appealing. Today, Johnson's work can best be seen in the context of the emergence of Canada and the struggle of Native cultures. Biography by: Selected Works by Pauline Johnson
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