ENG252Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Canadian Shield, Landform, Courtly Love
In my time today, I am going to build on James’s lecture to look more closely at a few
sections of the poem. I will briefly cover some key themes in the Prologue, and then look
at The Courtship and Marriage between John A. MacDonald and The Lady of British
Columbia, then at Pratt’s representation of the Laurentian Shield as the Laurentian
monster – before briefly revisiting the final scene of the poem.
So let’s turn to the Prologue – starts on page 55 – but let’s turn to page 56 –
Because I want to frame my lecture today by thinking about the phrase around line 31 –
“Union required the Line” – it’s a political slogan to win people over to the idea of this
massive undertaking of the railroad – and it’s being debated at home among families, in
the church, “at the banquet tables” and so on - but I also think that we can look at this line
as a key phrase that sets up a way to think about nation building – and the project of
national unity in the poem.
It seems to me that, on the one hand, this project of building the railway involves very
real practical and material considerations – it’s a way to traverse this massive expanse of
territory– so the union requires a literal line – a railway that can physically cross the land
– and connect citizens from east to west –
But, on the other hand, the project is also very much a symbolic one – the railway needs
to be built in order to promote the idea of national unity – a unity that will inspire loyalty
– and work to stabilize and legitimize the Canadian nation. –
To delve into this second point further, I want to think about a term that I think that
Professor Kamboureli has used before in lecture to describe the idea of nation – the term
is “Imagined Community” – it comes from a political theorist named Benedict Anderson
who famously defined the nation in this way – as an “Imagined Political Community.”
In his book which is entitled “Imagined Communities” – he writes that the nation “is
imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their
fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the
image of their communion.”
And it is a Community because “regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that
may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.”
What’s your understanding of what he’s saying here? – in the poem, we see that the
project of building the railway that can literally connect people is also one of creating and
promoting an imagined community among the citizens of Canada.
Or to put it another way – and to tie it back to the idea of “Union requiring the line” – we
can see that the line both physically crosses the land – but in doing so it also facilitates
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this horizontal comradeship – that Anderson is talking about - at least that’s MacDonald’s
hope.
Moving on to the end of the Prologue, however, Pratt immediately reveals that these
intertwined practical and symbolic considerations of nation building are entirely bound
up in pursuits of political power and capital gain –
Recalling Anderson’s caveat about the “actual inequality and exploitation” that goes on
within the territorial boundaries of a nation – we see that this idea of “horizontal
comradeship” is disrupted in the imagery of class hierarchy and exploitation. So right at
the end of this section of the prologue – Pratt depicts the relationship between the
wealthy capitalists and the exploited workers who will carry out this project:
This power lay in the custody of men…
What do you make of this battle imagery at the end to describe the capitalists and the
workers?
2.
Okay, so let’s keep these ideas about nations as imagined communities in mind, as we
move on to take a look at the courtship and marriage between John A. MacDonald and
The Lady of British Columbia. So, on page 57 – 59 – and it covers three sections - “The
Hangover at Dawn,” “The Lady of British Columbia,” and “The Long Distance
Proposal.”
So just to review what’s going on here - in these sections, Pratt is representing two
choices that the colony of British Columbia was facing at that time – Sir John A.
MacDonald wanted BC to be a part of Canada – but there was also a possibility that the
colony could join the United States. There was a lot of trade going that way already – and
a regional connection – so annexation with the US was actually more practical in many
ways – so, what’s interesting here – is that it was the British connection – and the shared
vision of Canada as a dominion of the north – that was what was making it possible to
imagine union west to east instead – to put it another way: even though BC was so
physically disconnected from the east – the imagined community was strong enough to
overcome the physical distance -
So, what Pratt does, is represent these competing interests in BC through an extended
metaphor of courtship – with California personified as a “sailor-lover” competing with
John A. MacDonald to woo British Columbia – which is personified as the Lady of
British Columbia – they’re fighting for her hand in marriage. MacDonald has to court her
long distance – while California has the advantage of physically being there – being
present. – and he’s also very appealing. He’s suave and has a lot to offer.
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MacDonald therefore has to use symbolic resources to woo BC – he is shown to court the
Lady through romantic ideas about unity before getting down to the practical terms of
union - which Pratt depicts as a marriage contract – So, this courtship and marriage
metaphor ultimately functions to show the interplay between these symbolic and material
aspects of nation building that I’ve been discussing
So first, let’s talk about the courtship. There are echoes throughout scene that hearken
back to the courtly love tradition -
Has anyone learned about the courtly love tradition in any of their other classes?
Medieval or Renaissance?
Definition from M.H. Abrams:
“A doctrine of love, together with an elaborate code governing the relations between
aristocratic lovers, which was widely represented in the lyric poems and chivalric
romances of western Europe during the Middle Ages.”
The conventions of courtly love are usually thought to have their origins in the lyrics of
the troubadours (kind of singing poets) of 11th and 12th century Provence (southern
France).
What Abrams calls a doctrine of love – is this conception of love that is beyond the
physical - an ideal and spiritual love –
And the elaborate code – refers to ritualized conventions of courtship and amorous
conduct in which the courtly lover, a man, idealizes his beloved – and the lover must
undertake various feats to show fidelity to the lady –
As Abrams notes, there is a debate about whether this was just a convention in the
literature or whether it reflected actual practices – but its influence persists in
Renaissance love poetry – and clearly beyond –
- as we see echoes of it this poem – Where do we see some of those echoes? Is anyone
seeing any connections between this courtly love context and this courtship plot?
So, picking up on this idea that I’ve been tracing - courtship works really well as a
metaphor for MacDonald’s wooing of BC with the symbolic aspects of nation building -
In “The Hangover at Dawn,” – right at the beginning here on page 57 - we see him
rehearsing what Pratt calls his “points” – the points are symbols and rhetoric of
nationalism: “The patriot touch, The Flag, the magnetism of explorer, The national unity”
–these have all been successful so far – but he is now focused on a challenge that will
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Document Summary
In my time today, i am going to build on james"s lecture to look more closely at a few sections of the poem. I will briefly cover some key themes in the prologue, and then look at the courtship and marriage between john a. macdonald and the lady of british. Columbia, then at pratt"s representation of the laurentian shield as the laurentian monster before briefly revisiting the final scene of the poem. So let"s turn to the prologue starts on page 55 but let"s turn to page 56 . Because i want to frame my lecture today by thinking about the phrase around line 31 . And connect citizens from east to west . But, on the other hand, the project is also very much a symbolic one the railway needs to be built in order to promote the idea of national unity a unity that will inspire loyalty. And work to stabilize and legitimize the canadian nation.
