Water in words

Whether found in the oldest of flood myths or a modern novel or poem, literature from every time period has included references to water. Water bodies, large and small, have provoked feelings of fear, respect, curiosity, and joy. Canada's earliest literature, the journals of explorers such as Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser, and David Thompson are rich with accounts of the waters they saw.

Travelling the Black River, Thompson wrote:

The dashing of the water against the rocks, the deep roar of the torrent, the hollow sound of the fall, with the surrounding high dark frowning hills form a scenery grand and awful . . . ⁹

These feelings of both awe and respect highlight, for all Canadians, the perils faced by these early explorers of such a rugged, indomitable land.

In the summer of 1808, Simon Fraser captured similar emotions in his journal while recounting his expedition down the tumultuous river that bears his name. Of one stretch of river, he notes:

The struggle which the men on this trial experienced between the whirlpools and rocks almost exhausted their strength; the canoes in perpetual danger of sinking or being broken to pieces. It was a desperate undertaking. ¹⁰

While explorers were filling in the map of western Canada, writers in eastern Canada were reflecting on the dominance of nature and the significance of rivers and lakes in their lives. Although people recognized the beauty and aesthetic value of the vast water systems, early settlers were always very aware of the dangers involved in traversing them. Those who were not cautious often paid dearly for their mistake. The diary of Lady Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe (the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada) was written in 1792 and describes one such occurrence:

People cross from Chippewa to Ft. Schlosser, but great caution is necessary the Current is so extremely strong & if they did not make exactly the mouth of the Chippewa the force of the water below it would inevitably carry them down the falls without redress. Eight soldiers who were intoxicated met with this accident in crossing the River some years since. Their bodies were taken up entire some distance below the Falls. ¹¹

The earliest Canadian novel is generally considered to be The History of Emily Montague, written by Frances Brooke in 1769. The story is notable for its descriptions of rivers, lakes, and waterfalls.

Waterscapes are also the theme of many poems, such as the one written by Thomas Cary in 1789 entitled "Abram's Plains." In this poem he describes the Great Lakes from "cold Superior," to Huron, "distinguish'd by its thund'ring bay," while Niagara is depicted as the "dread fall," among other such ominous impressions of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system. ¹²

Not all writers saw Canada's water systems as such dangerous entities. Poets such as Adam Allan and J. Mackay romanticised the streams and lakes of the eastern half of the continent in their poems of the 18^th century. Waterfalls, particularly Niagara, as well as the sheer size of rivers and lakes of the New World pushed European newcomers to flights of superlatives.

Since western Canada was settled so much later than the East, not much of the romantic literature was devoted to that vast landscape. An exception is The Great Lone Land, in which William Francis Butler tells of his journey to the Rocky Mountains from Fort Gary, where Winnipeg now stands. Of the Saskatchewan River he wrote:

From the glaciers and ice valleys of this great range of mountains innumerable streams descend into the plains. For a time they wander, as if heedless of direction, through groves and glades and green spreading declivities; then, assuming greater fixidity of purpose, they gather up many a wandering rill, and start eastward upon a long journey. . . . This river, which has along it every diversity of hill and vale, meadow-land and forest, treeless plain and fertile hill-side, is called by the wild tribes who dwell along its glorious shores the Kissaskatchewan, or Rapid-flowing River. ¹³

Canadian poetry seemed to flourish in the 19^th century. River systems central to settlement and commercial life were at the heart of this emerging literature. Charles Sangster, known in this lifetime as "Canada's national band," published The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay in 1856. It describes a canoe trip through the Thousand Islands and down the St. Lawrence and other eastern rivers.

As Canada achieved nationhood, Sangster was followed by four writers who became known as "the Confederation poets." Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman and Duncan C. Scott often found their themes in the lakes and streams they knew first hand. In "Autochthon," we feel with Roberts the shifting current:

I am the hush of calm,
I am the speed,
The flood-tide's triumphing psalm,
The marsh-pool's heed;
I work in the rocking roar
Where cataracts fall;
I flash in the prismy fire that dances o'er
The dew's ephemeral ball. ¹⁴

Some of Lampman's best known poetry also had water themes. The most ethereal feeling experienced by the author in these natural settings is translated into poetry. Such is the case in the poem "The Dawn on the Lievre" when Lampman describes an early morning sunrise on the river:

Up the dark-valleyed river stroke by stroke
We drove the water from the rustling blade;
An when the night was almost gone we made
The Oxbow bend; and there the dawn awoke;
Full on the shrouded night-charged river broke
The sun, down the long mountain valley rolled
A sudden, swinging avalanche of gold,
Through mists that sprang and reeled aside like smoke. ¹⁵

The landscape gives force to his words. They are instilled with the motion and energy that can be felt in any natural outdoor setting.

Coming from a different tradition, the poetry of Pauline Johnson also captures this life pulse of nature. Born to an English mother and a Mohawk father, she wrote poetry celebrating her Aboriginal heritage and the Canadian landscape, particularly its lakes and rivers. She toured throughout Canada, England, and the United States, giving recitals of her poetry, which contributed to her great popularity at the turn of the century.

The following lines from "The Song My Paddle Sings" are known to most schoolchildren:

And up on the hills against the sky,
A fir tree rocking its lullaby,
Swings, swings
Its emerald wings,
Swelling the song that my paddle sings. ¹⁶

In this context, water soothes and comforts. In many cultures, it is seen as a cleanser of both the body and the spirit, often used to mark fresh starts or absolution, as in the Christian baptism.

The beneficial properties of water do, however, have an antithesis. Though water is a life giving force, it is also capable of great destruction. This dual role is one that is reflected in all of nature – untameable and unpredictable. Margaret Laurence recognized this and used water to symbolize the similar duality of human nature, writing:

The river flowed both ways. The current moved from north to south, but the wind usually came from the south, rippling the bronze-green water in the opposite direction. This apparently impossible contradiction, made apparent and possible, still fascinated Morag, even after the years of river-watching. ¹⁷

Rapid industrialization and development began to reduce the quality of Canada's natural environment after World War II, the hardest hit being the country's streams and lakes. More writers began to identify the changes that were occurring in terms of ecosystem health as well as economic health. In Rivers of Canada, published in 1974, Hugh MacLennan identifies the modern uses of Canada's water systems with a sense of loss at the changing role of water in Canadian lives:

. . . the rivers of Canada are still there, and their appearance and character have changed little or not at all in the last century and a half. It is only our use of them that has altered. Now we fly over them, build dams on them, fish in them for sport, use them for municipal water supplies, and some of them we have poisoned with sewage and industrial effluents. . . . But the rivers are as worth knowing as they ever were, though none of us will know them as the voyageurs did. ¹⁸

Though we will never experience Canada's rivers with the same intensity as the voyageurs, they remain essential to our way of life and our artistry. Writers continue to look to water as subject and inspiration for their works.

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