E. Pauline Johnson (1861–1913)

This is a book of its times: quaint turn-of-the-century writing for North American and European readers who have had little direct experience of native peoples, using overwrought phrasing and pop words of the era (notably 'paleface', 'redskin' and 'Happy Hunting Ground', which peaked in usage around 1900 according to Google ngrams). It fits neatly into the period of Wild West shows and boys' adventure literature, when indigenous peoples and their cultures were being interpreted as noble but inevitably vanishing. The short book mentions familiar landmarks in southern British Columbia, but the human representations seem, at best, unfamiliar.… (more)

I loved this book! Johnson is a much better poet than I expected after skimming Legends of Vancouver. She has a sure sense of poetic meter and rhythm. While the themes are sometimes dated (the noble savage poems at the beginning) and the diction occasionally archaic, the poems are always very readable. I especially liked the subtlety of her nature subjects.

The ending of the poem Shadow River:

O! pathless world of seeming !
O! pathless life of mine whose deep ideal
Is more my own than ever was the real.
For others Fame
And Love's red flame,
And yellow gold : I only claim
The shadows and the dreaming.… (more)