Canada and the Natural World

Paper Summary:

The paper examines how James Lynne Alexander's lengthy poem "Wonders of the West or a Day at the Falls of Niagara, in 1825" reflects the rhetoric of a people and a time in which Mother Nature held sway over Canada's fledgling nation. The paper conveys the turbulent relationship between Upper Canadians of his age and an unruly local climate and the equally tense and turbulent relationship between Upper Canadians and their American counterparts.

From the Paper:

"James Lynne Alexander is not a name that will be familiar to most Canadian or American students of Canadian poetry; in fact, his name may not be familiar to many scholars who have devoted their careers to the study of Canadian literature. Nonetheless, Alexander's "Wonders of the West or a Day at the Falls of Niagara, in 1825" is a very useful poem for anyone seeking to learn more about the sometimes tense historic relationship between Canadians and the natural world - and about the historically tense relationship between Canadians and their American neighbors."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alexander, James Lynne. (n.d.). "Wonders of the West or a Day at the Falls of Niagara in 1825." Canadian Poetry: Canadian Long Poems. Retrieved May 21, 2007, from <http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/longpoems/wonders_of_the_west/wonders_of_the_west.htm>
• Pfahl, John. (1989). "Excerpt from Pfahl's artist statement for Arcadia Revisited, June 1989." Arcadia Revisited. Retrieved May 21, 2007 from <http://www.niagara.edu/cam/special/ArcadiaRevisited/pfahl_2.html>
• Stewart, Gordon T. (1989). "The Lion, The Eagle, and Upper Canada: A Developing Colonial Ideology (Book Review)." The American Historical Review, 94(2): 553-554.

More papers on Canada and the Natural World:

• Poem Review # 133642 : "Charles Sangster's "The St. Lawrence" and the "Saguenay"
• Essay # 6948 : "Tourism and the Environment"
• Argumentative Essay # 147346 : "Economics Development and the Canadian Environment"

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