John Reade
Encyclopedia
John Reade was an Irish
-born Canadian
journalist, essayist, and poet once considered "the grand old man of Canadian letters." He is best known as the literary editor of the Montreal Gazette
, a position he held for almost 50 years.
, Donegal
, Ireland
, in 1837, the son of Frances Smyth and Joseph Reade. He was educated at Portora School, Enniskillen
, and Queen's College, Belfast.
Reade immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1856, settling in Montreal
. Within a year he had founded and was editing Montreal Literary Magazine. In 1859 he became rector
of Lachute Academy, and began studying theology. He was ordained an Anglican minister in 1865, and served in two parishes (Mascouche
and Mansonville) before leaving the ministry in 1867 due to ill health.
Returning to Montreal in 1868, Reade began writing for the Montreal Gazette. In 1870 he became the Gazettes literary editor, and held that position until his death in 1919.
At the Gazette Reade was best known for his weekly column, "Old and New," but he also wrote "hundreds of unsigned editorials, reviews, and articles" for the paper. In addition, he "published poems, essays, translations, or short fiction in virtually all of the major Canadian journals of his day."
Reade was a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature
, and a founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882. He was a member, and served as president, of both the Society of Canadian Literature and the Society for Historical Studies. He was also a member of the Société littéraire et historique de Québec.
Eight of Reade's poems were published in the 1864 anthology, Selections from Canadian Poets. His own book, Merlin's Prophecy and Other Poems (a book "steeped in Victorian Romanticism"), appeared in 1870
. The title poem, which used the form of Tennyson
's Idylls of the King, was a purported prophecy of contemporary Canada and the British Empire
, which Reade wrote to commemorate Prince Arthur
's 1869 visit to Canada. John Lesperance called it "the most perfect poem ever written in Canada." The book also included Reade's translations of Aeschylus
, Euripides
, Homer
, Horace
, and Virgil
.
In 1881 Reade edited Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
's posthumous collected poems, The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon.
Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review printed Reade's long poem, "Madeleine de Vercheres," in 1878. In 1889, W.D. Lighthall
selected "Madeleine" and two other Reade poems for his anthology Songs of the Great Dominion
: "Hastings," which he used to begin the book, and "The Winter Carnival." Reade, Lighthall declared, was "one of the chief figures in Canadian literature
, and probably the sweetest poet."
Reade was appointed a charter Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
in 1882, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
of Great Britain in 1896.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa
in 1909.
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography
notes that although Reade "was appropriately identified in his later years as 'the grand old man of Canadian letters,' his reputation has not fulfilled the dream of his friend John Boyd that 'no anthology of Canadian verse will ever be complete without a wide selection from John Reade’s work, rich as it is in content and faultless in its technique.' Despite such praise, the late-Victorian personal, political, and poetic values characteristic of Reade’s poetry and criticism led to their general disregard within a few years of his death."
of Canadian History in Montreal.
Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-born Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist, essayist, and poet once considered "the grand old man of Canadian letters." He is best known as the literary editor of the Montreal Gazette
The Gazette (Montreal)
The Gazette, often called the Montreal Gazette to avoid ambiguity, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with three other daily English newspapers all having shut down at different times during the second half of the 20th century.-History:In 1778,...
, a position he held for almost 50 years.
Life
John Reade was born in BallyshannonBallyshannon
Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located where the N3 and N15 cross the River Erne, and claims to be the oldest town in Ireland.-Location:...
, Donegal
Donegal
Donegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, in 1837, the son of Frances Smyth and Joseph Reade. He was educated at Portora School, Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
, and Queen's College, Belfast.
Reade immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1856, settling in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Within a year he had founded and was editing Montreal Literary Magazine. In 1859 he became rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Lachute Academy, and began studying theology. He was ordained an Anglican minister in 1865, and served in two parishes (Mascouche
Mascouche, Quebec
Mascouche is a suburban city north of Montreal in southern Quebec, Canada. The city is located on the Mascouche River and has a population of 33,764, ranking 30th among Quebec municipalities.The current mayor is Richard Marcotte.- Infrastructure :...
and Mansonville) before leaving the ministry in 1867 due to ill health.
Returning to Montreal in 1868, Reade began writing for the Montreal Gazette. In 1870 he became the Gazettes literary editor, and held that position until his death in 1919.
At the Gazette Reade was best known for his weekly column, "Old and New," but he also wrote "hundreds of unsigned editorials, reviews, and articles" for the paper. In addition, he "published poems, essays, translations, or short fiction in virtually all of the major Canadian journals of his day."
Reade was a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
, and a founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882. He was a member, and served as president, of both the Society of Canadian Literature and the Society for Historical Studies. He was also a member of the Société littéraire et historique de Québec.
Eight of Reade's poems were published in the 1864 anthology, Selections from Canadian Poets. His own book, Merlin's Prophecy and Other Poems (a book "steeped in Victorian Romanticism"), appeared in 1870
1870 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Edward Lear, Nonsense Songs, stories, Botany, and Alphabets * William Morris, The Earthly Paradise, Part...
. The title poem, which used the form of Tennyson
Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the first Baron Tennyson, was an English poet.Tennyson may also refer to:-People:* Baron Tennyson, the barony itself** Alfred, Lord Tennyson , poet...
's Idylls of the King, was a purported prophecy of contemporary Canada and the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, which Reade wrote to commemorate Prince Arthur
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
's 1869 visit to Canada. John Lesperance called it "the most perfect poem ever written in Canada." The book also included Reade's translations of Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
, Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, and Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
.
In 1881 Reade edited Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon , born Rosanna Eleanor Mullins, was a Canadian writer and poet. She was "one of the first English-Canadian writers to depict French Canada in a way that earned the praise of, and resulted in her novels being read by, both anglophone and francophone Canadians."-Life:Leprohon...
's posthumous collected poems, The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon.
Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review printed Reade's long poem, "Madeleine de Vercheres," in 1878. In 1889, W.D. Lighthall
William Douw Lighthall
William Douw Lighthall , K.C., LL.D., F.R.S.C. , can be and has been described as a Canadian "lawyer, historian, novelist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, and editor."...
selected "Madeleine" and two other Reade poems for his anthology Songs of the Great Dominion
Songs of the Great Dominion
Songs of the Great Dominion was a pioneering anthology of Canadian poetry published in 1889. The book's full title was Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada. The collection was selected and edited by William Douw Lighthall of Montreal...
: "Hastings," which he used to begin the book, and "The Winter Carnival." Reade, Lighthall declared, was "one of the chief figures in Canadian literature
Canadian literature
Canadian literature is literature originating from Canada. Collectively it is often called CanLit. Some criticism of Canadian literature has focused on nationalistic and regional themes, although this is only a small portion of Canadian Literary criticism...
, and probably the sweetest poet."
Recognition
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
in 1882, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
of Great Britain in 1896.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
in 1909.
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The DCB, which was initiated in 1959, is a collaboration between the University of Toronto and Université Laval...
notes that although Reade "was appropriately identified in his later years as 'the grand old man of Canadian letters,' his reputation has not fulfilled the dream of his friend John Boyd that 'no anthology of Canadian verse will ever be complete without a wide selection from John Reade’s work, rich as it is in content and faultless in its technique.' Despite such praise, the late-Victorian personal, political, and poetic values characteristic of Reade’s poetry and criticism led to their general disregard within a few years of his death."
Books of poetry
- The Prophecy of Merlin and Other Poems. Montreal: Dawson Bros., 1870.
- Madeleine de Vercheres (Toronto, [189–])
Anthologized poems
- Eight poems, Selections from Canadian poets, E.H. Dewart ed. Montreal, 1864; repr., intro. D. Lochhead, Toronto and Buffalo, N.Y., 1973.
- "Hastings," "The Winter Carnival," "Madeleine de Vercheres," Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada, William Douw Lighthall ed. London: Walter Scott, 1891.
Prose
- “Thomas D’Arcy McGee – the poet,” New Dominion Monthly (Montreal), February 1870: 12–21;
- “Winty Dane’s transformation,” New Dominion Monthly, August 1874: 878-879. (short story)
- “Canada a hundred years ago,” Belford’s Monthly Magazine (Toronto), 1 (1877): 621–36:
- “The testimony of names of places,” Rose-Belford’s Canadian Monthly and National Review (Toronto), 1 (July–December 1878): 602–8;
- "Great explorers before Columbus," Trans. Literary and Hist. Soc., 17 (1882–1883), 3-31;
- “Lord Tennyson,” Dominion Illustrated Monthly (Montreal), [2nd ser.], 1 (February 1892–January 1893): 631–39;
- “What is imperialism?” Canadian Magazine, 19 (May–October 1902): 316–18.
Edited
- Rosanna Leprohon, The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon. Lovell, 1881.
- George Murray, Poems.. Montreal: E.G. O'Connor, 1912.
Fonds
Reade's papers are at the McCord MuseumMcCord Museum
The McCord Museum is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history...
of Canadian History in Montreal.
Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
External links
- John Reade at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.