The Quest for a 'National' Nationalism

George Elliott Clarke investigates E.J. Pratt's poetic attempt to become the epic poet of Canada. And while Pratt's epic poems, such as Brebeuf and His Brethren and Towards the Last Spike, stand as lofty poetic achievements, the poet is never able to escape his own identity and speak convincingly for all Canadians. Unable to speak for Francophones, Indigenous peoples, and People of Colour, Pratt becomes the epic poet of the establishment, but never truly of the people.