Poetry and Fiction Walk Hand in Hand

One may often wonder in what ways poetry can relate to other types of fiction. On the surface, it may be hard to find the commonalities. Poetry is often considerably shorter than most types of fiction, there are no rules for grammar, there doesn’t need to be any characters, and is often filled with many adjectives that describe the title or subject at hand. However, the two main connections that poetry has with fiction is that they’re both works of literature and they are both intended to be read. As with all types of literature, I find that they are meant to engage, enlighten, entertain, and/or educate those reading it.

Always Now, by Margaret Avison contains many poems that are short in length but are full of meaning. Canadian culture and the Canadian environment are the common themes within her poems. Her vivid use of colour and the way she engages our imagination throughout her poetry allows us to connect with her poems. This obviously engages a Canadian reader, as it plays upon our knowledge of our surroundings. It also has the ability to enlighten and educate others to the Canadian landscape if they are not from here.

Poetry is meant to be analysed. Poets often use different techniques to disguise the meaning behind their poems and for us to uncover those meanings is how we advance our literary understanding. This new knowledge can be applied to fiction as well. Authors in novels often use the same literary devices as poets but go unnoticed because we are not trained to notice it in fiction. We are taught to look for characters, plot, climax, theme etc. in fiction but are rarely ever told to look for metaphors, irony, double meanings like we are for poetry. If by reading Always Now, we are able to expand our knowledge of literature, then "titles" like poetry and fiction are insignificant; they are one in the same.

Who is Ethel Wilson?

Ethel Wilson was born in South Africa and was orphaned after moving to England in 1890. Eventually she came to Canada where she received her teaching certificate. She did not publish her first works until the 1940’s, and she did not receive great recognition until 1964 when she was awarded the Royal Society of Canada’s Lorne Pierce Medal and the Canadian Council Medal.
The experiences of Ethel Wilson are strongly reflected in her writing, specifically in “The Innocent Traveller.” The main character, Topaz Edgeworth travels to Canada from England after growing up in a Victorian Methodist household like Wilson herself. Later in the novel, the character Rose comes to Vancouver to stay with her maternal great aunt, Topaz, following the death of her father. This was surely influenced by Wilson’s 1898 departure to Vancouver from England to stay with her maternal grandmother following the death of her father. The entire novel has a definite childlike spirit embodied in the timelessly innocent and relentlessly talkative Topaz. In many ways, Topaz has the persona of a young child in elementary school and it’s no coincidence that Wilson, a woman who taught for thirteen years in Vancouver elementary schools, created such a character.
The novel, which is comprised of short stories, is autobiographical albeit quite unrevealing. However, Wilson manages to convey the importance of several themes of human nature. Likely from her experiences of loss at a young age, Wilson comments on the importance of time, and hints about how it plays a character in one’s life.

Criticism: an Attempt at a Closer Look

It has become apparent from common student response that The Innocent Traveller, written by Ethel Wilson was not the most well recieved novel read by its teenage readers. Although it has been acclaimed countless times by the literary critics as a tremendously well written novel, it still failed to spurr the interest of the majority of the students. Is it possible that young people in today's society have difficulty appreciating award winning literature? Or could it simply be that Wilson's target audience was not teenagers? The Innocent traveller included many important ideas such as the concept of time; the various stages of it effecting individuals in other periods. An example of this is seen when Topaz hears sounds at night and remembers Mrs. Porter's story of Pan, which in turn leads to a realization that there are greater beings at work than the insignificant humans of the visible world; the post works on the present. However, it is questionable whether the average teenager reading The Innocent Traveller would be insightful enough to catch this important revelation. Although the novel is well written, providing very vivid images of Europe and Canada, the deeper concepts that make it more enjoyable are sometimes difficult to find and without those, the story becomes flat and boring. The protagonist Topaz undergoes some revelations but the changes that result from them are not permanent, making Topaz more or less a static character. A large portion of the plot seems to lead nowhere, boring readers until maybe halfway into the book, where the story becomes slightly more interesting. Needless to say Wilson probably did not mean for plot and character to be the main source of interest in her novel. There is not much to The Innocent Traveller on the surface, however, there are some deeper themes hidden underneath that make it a prized work of literature. It is possible that Wilson hid these too well for the average teenager to enjoy this novel beyond its grey, bland surface.