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Dorothy Livesay

どろしー・らいぶぜい

Dorothy Livesay

Aliases: Dorothy Kathleen May Livesay

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1909-10-12 （Winnipeg, Manitoba）
Died
1996-12-29 （Victoria, British Columbia） age 87
Nationality
Canadian
Languages
English
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
Winnipeg, Manitoba → Toronto, Ontario → Vancouver, British Columbia → Victoria, British Columbia

Career

Occupations
poet, writer, university instructor
Active Years
1928-1996
Affiliations
Royal Society of Canada
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Influenced By
Florence Randal Livesay, Amy Lowell
Influenced
Margaret Atwood

Education

Trinity College, University of Toronto
Faculty of Arts / Department of Literature
Degree: BA
Period: 1927-1931
Year of Graduation: 1931
Country: Canada
Bachelor of Arts
University of Toronto Faculty of Social Work
Faculty of Social Work / Department of Social Work
Degree: Diploma
Period: 1931-1934
Year of Graduation: 1934
Country: Canada
Diploma in Social Work
University of British Columbia
Faculty of Arts
Period: 不明
Country: Canada
Studied
Sorbonne, University of Paris
Faculty of Letters
Period: 1931頃
Country: France
Studied

Awards

Governor General's Award
1944
Work: Day and Night
Category: 詩集部門
Organization: Government of Canada
Result: 受賞
Governor General's Award
1947
Work: Poems for People
Category: 詩集部門
Organization: Government of Canada
Result: 受賞
Lorne Pierce Medal
1947
Organization: Royal Society of Canada
Result: 受賞
Order of Canada
1987
Category: オフィサー
Organization: Governor General of Canada
Result: 受賞
Order of British Columbia
1992
Organization: Government of British Columbia
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Green Pitcher

1928 Poetry

Her first collection of poetry at age 19, showcasing imagist techniques.

ImagismCanadian landscape

Day and Night

1944 Poetry

Poetry fusing social passion. Winner of Governor General's Award.

Social issuesWarPeace

Poems for People

1947 Poetry

Poems for the people. Winner of Governor General's Award.

SocialismWorkers

Collected Poems: The Two Seasons

1972 Poetry

Notable collected poems.

Winter and deathSpring and life

Bibliography

  • Green Pitcher
  • Signpost
  • Day and Night
  • Poems for People
  • Call My People Home
  • New Poems
  • Selected Poems, 1926-1956
  • The Colour of God's Face
  • The Unquiet Bed
  • The Documentaries
  • Plainsongs
  • Plainsongs Extended
  • Disasters of the Sun
  • Collected Poems: The Two Seasons
  • Nine Poems of Farewell
  • Ice Age
  • Right Hand Left Hand
  • The Raw Edges: Voices from Our Time
  • The Phases of Love
  • Feeling the Worlds: New Poems
  • Beyond War: The Poetry
  • The Self-Completing Tree: Selected Poems
  • Beginnings
  • The Woman I Am
  • Archive for Our Times

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Imagist techniquesFusion of social passionTightened rhythm
Recurring Motifs
Winter and death-impulseSpring and life capacityObservation of how others observe, especially children

Legacy

Senior woman writer in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s. Twice winner of Governor General's Award.

Archives

  • Queen's University Archives
  • University of Victoria Special Collections
  • Bruce Peel Special Collections, University of Alberta
  • University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections

In Popular Culture

  • Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (BC Book Prizes category)

Quotes

  • Miss Livesay is an imagist who started off, in Green Pitcher (1929), in the Amy Lowell idiom...
    Source: Letters in Canada - 1957 (Northrop Frye) (1957)

Trivia

  • Published first poetry collection at age 19
  • Member of the Communist Party of Canada
  • Worked for UNESCO in Zambia as field worker