A.M. Klein's The Rocking Chair: Toward the Redefinition of the Poet's Function

The author argues against the stasis of ideological signification when discussing poetry, asserting that despite Montrealer A.M. Klein's overt humanist ideology in his book of poetry, The Rocking Chair and Other Poetry (1948), the book is a production rather than a product; the complex voice of art often refutes ideological simplifications. For one thing, she contends, the poems become progressively more satirical towards the end of the book, the speaker increasingly alienated. The author argues that Klein parodies Milton and Joyce: their shared belief in the primacy of art is belied by Klein's assertion of "the deposition of the poet" in the twentieth century by economic and scientific powers. Some of the poems, especially The Rocking Chair, examine and compare Jewish Quebecers’ and French Quebecers’ experience in Canada.

Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature Canadienne

Vol. 15

no. 1

94-116

Winter 1990

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