UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LINKS

Margaret Avison : Criticism

General Criticism

Anderson, Mia. "'Conversation with the Star Messenger: An Enquiry into Margaret Avison's Winter Sun". Studies in Canadian Literature Etudes en Litterature Canadienne, Fredericton, NB, Canada (SCL). 1981, 6:1, 82-132
Bowen, Deborah. "Phoenix from the ashes: Lorna Crozier and Margaret Avison in contemporary mourning [Quitting Smoking by Lorna Crozier & Having Stopped Smoking by Margaret Avison]" Canadian Poetry, (40) Spr/Summ'97 pg 46-57.
Calverley, Margaret. "The Avison collection at the University of Manitoba: poems, 1929-89" Canadian Poetry, (28) Spring/Summer, 1991 pg 54-84.
Calverley, Margaret. "The 'known enigma': reading the poetry of Margaret Avison Books in Canada, v.25(7) October, 1996 pg 7-8.
Calverley, Margaret. "'Service Is Joy': Margaret Avison's Sonnet Sequence in Winter Sun" Essays on Canadian Writing, Toronto, ON, Canada (ECW). 1993 Fall, 50, 210-30
Cohn-Sfetcu, Ofelia. "To Live in Abundance of Life: Time in Canadian Literature," Canadian Literature , Vancouver 8, British Columbia, Canada 1978, 76, 25-36.
Dudar, Judy. "Mazoff, CD. Waiting For The Sun: Poetics/Theology/Rhetoric In Margaret Avison's Sunblue" Dalhousie Review, v.70(2) Summer, 1990 pg 270-272.
Guptara, Prabhu S. "A Dark Reservoir of Gladness: Margaret Avison's Third Volume of Verse" The Literary Criterion, Bangalore, India (LCrit). 1981, 16:1, 42-45
Jeffrey, David Lyle. "Light, Stillness, and the Shaping Word: Conversion and the Poetic of Margaret Avison" IN Kent, David A. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain": The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Jones, Lawrence. "A Core of Brilliance: Margaret Avison's Achievement" Canadian Literature, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1W5, Canada 1968, 38, 50-57
Kent, David. "Mazoff, CD. Waiting For The Sun: Poetics/Theology/Rhetoric In Margaret Avison's Sunblue" Essays on Canadian Writing, (44), 1991 pg 67-78.
Kent, David. "Margaret Avison (1918- )"
In Lecker, Robert (ed.); David-Jack (ed.); Quigley-Ellen (ed.). ECW's Biographical Guide to Canadian Poets. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1993. 282 pp.
Kent, David. "Wholehearted Poetry; Halfhearted Criticism" Essays on Canadian Writing, Toronto, ON, Canada (ECW). 1991 Fall, 44, 67-78
Kent, David. "Margaret Avison and Her Works" Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1989. 57 pp.
Kertzer, J.M. "Margaret Avison: Power, Knowledge and the Language of Poetry" Canadian Poetry, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada 1979, 4, 29-44
Kertzer, Jon. "Margaret Avison and the Place of Meaning" IN Kent-David-A. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain": The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Kertzer, J.M. "Margaret Avison's Portrait of a Lady: 'The Agnes Cleaves Papers'" Concerning Poetry, Bellingham, WA 1979, 12:2, 17-24
Lecker, Robert. "Exegetical Blizzard" Studies in Canadian Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada 1979, 4:1, 180-84
MacEwen, Gwendolyn. "Poetry and Honey Dew: My First Meetings with Margaret Aviso"" IN Kent,David. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain: The Poetry of Margaret Avison." Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Mallinson, Jean. "A cartography of the spirit: the poems of Margaret Avison" Poetry Canada Review, v.12(1) December, 1991 pg 12-14.
Mansbridge, Francis. "Margaret Avison: An Annotated Bibliography" IN Lecker-Robert (ed.); David-Jack (ed.). The Annotated Bibliography of Canada's Major Authors (VI). Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1985. 448 pp.
Mansbridge, Francis. "Bibliography of Margaret Avison" IN Kent-David-A. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain": The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Mathews, Lawrence. "Stevens, Wordsworth, Jesus: Avison and the Romantic Imagination" IN Kent, David. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain": The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Mazoff, Chaim D. "Waiting For The Son: Images Of Release And Restoration In Margaret Avison's Poetry" Cormorant Bks, 1989.
Mazoff, David. "Through the son: an explication of Margaret Avison's 'Person'" Canadian Poetry, 22 Spring/Summer 1988 pg 40-48.
Merrett, Robert James. "Faithful Unpredictability: Syntax and Theology in Margaret Avison's Poetry" IN Kent-David-A. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain: The Poetry of Margaret Avison." Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Noisan, Clement. "Rina Lasnier et Margaret Avison" Liberte, Montreal, Quebec H4A 1R9, Canada 1976, 108, 21-33
New, William. "The Mind's (I's) (Ice): The Poetry of Margaret Avison". Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal, Hempstead, NY 1970, 16, 185-202
Pollock, Zailig. "A Response to Michael Taylor's 'Snow Blindness'" Studies in Canadian Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada 1979, 4:1, 177-79
Quinsey, KM. "The dissolving jail-break in Avison" Canadian Poetry, (25)/Winter, 1989 pg 21-37.
Redekop, Ernest. "The Word/word in Avison's Poetry" IN Kent-David-A. (ed.). "Lighting Up the Terrain": The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Redekop, Ernest H."Sun/Son Light/Light: Avison's Elemental Sunblue" Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews, London, ON, Canada (CanPo). 1980 Fall-Winter, 7, 21-37
Somerville, Christine. "The Shadow of Death: Margaret Avison's 'Just Left or The Night Margaret Laurence Died'" Inside the Poem: Essays and Poems in Honour of Donald Stephens. Toronto : Oxford UP, 1992. xv, 304 pp.
Taylor, Michael. "Snow Blindness"
Studies in Canadian Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada 1978, 3, 288-90
Teleky, Richard. "The Poet as Translator: Margaret Avison's 'Hungarian Snap'" Canadian Literature, Vancouver, BC, Canada (CanL). 1992 Winter, 135, 112-22.
Zezulka, JM. "Kent, David. Lighting Up The Terrain: The Poetry Of Margaret" Canadian PoetryCanadian Poetry, v.(24) Spring/Summer 1989 pg 91-96.
Zezulka, J.M. Refusing the Sweet Surrender: Margaret Avison's 'Dispersed Titles' Canadian Poetry, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada 1977, 1, 44-53
Zichy, Francis. "Response to Robert Lecker's 'Exegetical Blizzard' and Michael Taylor's 'Snow Blindness'" Studies in Canadian Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada 1979, 4:2, 147-54
Zichy, Francis. "'Each in His Prison/Thinking of the Key': Images of Confinement and Liberation in Margaret Avison" Studies in Canadian Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada 1978, 3, 232-43
"A need to share ideas with an audience: Margaret Avison's poetry illuminates even the plainest material with flashes of insight and commonsense"
Globe & Mail - Metro edition, January 22, 1991 pg C1.

Selected Readings

Kent, David, ed. Lighting Up the Terrain: The Poetry of Margaret Avison. Toronto : Essays on Canadian Writing, 1987.
Mazoff, Chaim D. Waiting For The Son: Images Of Release And Restoration In Margaret Avison's Poetry. Cormorant Bks, 1989.

Periodical Articles

Jones, DG. Identite et difference: remarques comparatives sur la poesie de Margaret Avison et de Rina Lasnier. In Ellipse: n49 (1993) : p11-23.
Jones, DG. Identity and difference: comparative notes on the poetry of Margaret Avison and Rina Lasnier. In Ellipse: n49 (1993) : p104-115.
Mallinson, Jean. A cartography of the spirit: the poems of Margaret Avison. In Poetry Canada Review: v12 n1 (December, 1991) : p12-14.
Mazoff, C David. Through the son: an explication of Margaret Avison's "Person". In Canadian Poetry: 22Spring/Summer 1988 : p40-48.
A need to share ideas with an audience: Margaret Avison's poetry illuminates even the plainest material with flashes of insight and common sense. In Globe & Mail (Toronto) - Metro edition: January 22, 1991 : pC1.
Quinsey, KM. The dissolving jail-break in Avison. In Canadian Poetry: n25 (/Winter, 1989) : p21-37.
Teleky, Richard. The poet as translator: Margaret Avison's "Hungarian Snap". In Canadian Literature: n135 (Winter, 1992) : p112-122.