New Provinces (poetry anthology)

New Provinces, First Edition, 1936.

Scott may have insisted on keeping Pratt to increase the chances of publication. Of the Montreal poets, only Kennedy had previously published a single volume of verse; in contrast, Pratt had been releasing books of poetry for over a decade. "Macmillan Canada had published Pratt’s poetry in the past, and Pratt approached Macmillan’s literary editor Hugh Eayrs on behalf of the New Provinces group" in 1934.[6]

One casualty of Pratt's involvement was Smith's Preface. Pratt, who was editor of the Canadian Poetry Magazine, "objected to the Preface because its radical pronouncements could alienate half his magazine’s readers, and Scott wrote to Finch, 'We would not willingly compromise him'." Finch seconded Pratt's objections, prompting Smith to write to Scott: "Who the hell are Finch and Pratt to object to the preface? If I am willing to let my poems come out in the same book with Pratt's insipid stuff, he can take the preface." [6] However, Smith's Preface was also "rejected by the publisher as being too impatient with traditional Canadian poetry", and it was dropped, with Scott writing a more "modest" Preface instead.[3]

When Macmillan also demanded "that the poets pay $200 toward the production of 650 to 675 copies of New Provinces, Scott looked elsewhere, and submitted the manuscript to the Dent publishing company. At this point, Pratt threatened to leave the project if Macmillan did not publish it.... In the end, Scott paid the bulk of the cost, $120, while Finch and Pratt each contributed $40. Smith, who could easily afford the fee, refused to contribute because of the argument over his Preface." [6]

New Provinces finally was printed in a limited run of 500 copies, of which only 250 were bound for sale, on May 9–11, 1936.[11] All told, it "took 4 years of negotiation and pleading on the part of Scott before it was finally published by the Macmillan Co. of Canada." [3]

While the book sold poorly, it had an effect on those who read it. "The poems in New Provinces had an impact on Canadian verse far beyond any prefatorial pronouncements: in its implicit call for new findings and new attitudes in Canadian writing, it might be likened to the effect of the Wordsworth-Coleridge Lyrical ballads in 1798 on the Romantics.... The effect of New provinces was that it established the ‘Montreal Group’ as the Canadian avant-garde of its time." [7]

New Provinces was republished in 1976 by the University of Toronto Press, as part of its "Literature in Canada" series. Smith's unused Preface (which had been published in 1964 as the "Rejected Preface") was incorporated into the new work as an "important feature." [3] As well, a new introduction was written by editor Michael Gnarowski.[8]

The flyleaf of the 1976 edition called New Provinces "a monument in Canadian literature," and in his introduction, Gnarowski described it as "a singular event in a literary process which stemmed from the origins of Canadian modernism." Others have made similar claims about its significance: "In the Literary History of Canada, Munro Beattie calls New Provinces 'a literary milestone,' and 'a literary signpost' (753,754). More recently, Brian Trehearne describes New Provinces as 'the landmark publication that signalled the demise of the old school of Canadian poetry' (Aestheticism 115)." [6] In The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, literary critic and anthologist W.H. New called New Provinces "an anthology that has between its covers the most famous enactment of modernist values in Canada." [12]

Later opinions were less praising. The 1997 Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature called the book "commercially unsuccessful but critically important," while in 2003 Canadian Poetry published an essay "designed to question a literary history which has canonized an unsuccessful volume of poetry published by a small group of Canadian modernists who excluded female poets." [6]

Despite poor sales and charges of sexism, though, New Province's place in the modern Canadian canon looks assured. Besides its historical status as the first anthology of modern Canadian poetry, it is also notable for its contributors. Every contributor except for Kennedy (who never published another book) went on to win the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for poetry.

As only 350 copies of the first edition were ever bound, it is extremely rare. A copy was being offered for sale in 2011 for $750.[11]