"Maps"

Poem Review # 104231

English > Analysis
Literature > Canadian
Literature > Poetry

"Maps"

An analysis of Alice Major's poem "Maps".

870 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at Alice Major's "Maps" and at how this brief poem captures some fascinating items about Canada and about Canadian society as it presently stands. It examines the poem's focus upon the evolution of cartography within the country over time and its use of vivid imagery. It also looks at how the poem focuses upon the evolution of an embryonic child which touches upon two things: the controversial phenomenon of Canada being "discovered" by Caucasian usurpers arriving from abroad, and the fact that Canada is a nation wherein the social compass has shifted dramatically in recent decades.

From the Paper:

"Alice Major's poem, "Maps," is really a commentary on Canada and on what Canada has evolved into. For instance, passages like, "What was peninsula on ancient charts/becomes island. Small continents swell/large extrusions dwindle. Until it emerges - the familiar shape of a world" (Major, lines 10-14). In a very real sense, the history of Canada is the history of a land creating its own "map" out of the rough-hewn terrain that, really, belonged to someone else (Miquelon, 2004). In that sense, what the maps of this country have always presented is the evolving vision of a land as that land presents itself to "white" settlers who are merely among the latest guests in a land that is not (was not) their land. Thus, Major's poem, "Maps," is also a poem about epistemology and about the manner in which the things we learn are given to us through lens crafted by someone else. "

Sample of Sources Used:

Golob, Stephanie R. (2002). North America beyond NAFTA? Sovereignty, Identity, and Security in Canada-U.S. Relations. Canadian-American Public Policy, 1+. (Volume and issue number not provided by Questia database). Retrieved May 20, 2007 from <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002523716>
Majors, Alice. "Maps." (Additional bibliographic information not provided by client).
Matthews, J. Scott, & Erickson, Lynda. (2005). Public opinion and social citizenship in Canada. The Canadian Review of Anthropology and Sociology, 42(4): 373+. Retrieved May 20, 2007 from Questia database <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5014739140>
McLaren, Angus, & Tiger McLaren, Arlene. (2000). Bedroom and the State: The Changing Practices and Politics of Contraception and Abortion in Canada, 1880-1997 2d Ed. (book review)." American Review of Canadian Studies, 30(1): 103-105.
Miquelon, Dale. "Historical Atlas of Canada: Canada's History Illustrated with Original Maps (Book Review)." Canadian Historical Review, 85(3): 549-552.