The way Hollander writes about Walt Whitman's wordplay and the textures within Leaves of Grass makes his poetry sound incredibly compelling. Writing as someone who's never seriously read any Whitman, I'm definitely going to have to go back and check out one of the several editions of the collection to see what all the fuss is about.
Though, reading about Whitman's writing poetry for America on various levels or in various ways makes me wonder who the equivalent is for Canada.
Charles Sangster was quite popular around Confederation (classed among the Confederation Poets, in fact). E.J. Pratt wrote an epic about the Canadian Pacific Railway, giving voice to an important national unifier for Canada. Leonard Cohen captured (and still ensnares) hearts and minds with his works. Irving Layton's another candidate, too, writing poetry that was direct and blunt.
But has there been a poet whose been acknowledged as having written the Canadian poem, or poetry collection? Could such a claim ever be made, given Canada's priding itself on diversity, bashfulness, and unobtrusiveness?
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