Dorothy Livesay
Dorothy Livesay was a prominent Canadian poet, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1909 and later moving to Toronto. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Throughout her career, Livesay was deeply engaged in social issues, particularly women's rights, and worked as a social worker during the 1930s. Her literature often reflects her commitment to these themes, transitioning from pastoral poetry to more politically charged works as she sought to explore the complexities of identity and relationships, particularly for women.
Her notable collections include "Day and Night," which juxtaposes her earlier structured poems with her evolving political voice, and "The Unquiet Bed," which addresses women's self-identity in romantic contexts. In addition to poetry, Livesay wrote fiction, such as the novella "The Husband," which explores themes of love and isolation. Her memoir, "Journey with My Selves: A Memoir, 1901-1963," offers a personal account of her life and activism. Livesay's legacy continues to resonate in Canadian literature, recognized for her metaphorical richness and encouragement of poetic expression. She passed away in 1996, leaving behind a significant impact on both poetry and social advocacy.
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Dorothy Livesay
Poet
- Born: October 12, 1909
- Birthplace: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- Died: December 29, 1996
- Place of death: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Biography
Dorothy Livesay was born into a family of writers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1909 and moved with her parents to Toronto, Ontario, in 1920. In 1931, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, after which she attended the Sorbonne in Paris. As Canada sunk into a severe depression during the 1930’s, she became a social worker specializing in the area of women’s rights. Between 1960 and 1963, she worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an English teacher in northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. She was a lecturer in poetry at the University of British Columbia from 1965 until 1966, and she was an associate professor of English and a writer in residence at various colleges and universities throughout Canada.
Although she wrote in other genres, Livesay is best known for her prolific poetry, which often dealt with complex political and social issues. She began her career as a poet by composing pastoral poems but switched to political poetry while she was working as a social worker. Her 1944 collection, Day and Night, provides examples of both her earlier, highly structured pastoral poetry and her more loosely structured political verse. This book was well received by critics, who praised Livesay for skillfully balancing the need to share one’s identity in a relationship with the need to remain an individual, a balance that Livesey said was difficult for many women to accomplish. A subsequent poetry collection, The Unquiet Bed, which deals with her affair with a younger man, similarly explores this balance and strongly concludes that women should never renounce their sense of self in the name of romance.
Livesay also wrote fiction. Her epistolary novella, The Husband, is about a love affair between a forty-five year-old married woman named Celia and a twenty-seven year-old man. The book received mixed reviews; some critics condemned its weak writing, while others praised its vivid depictions of individual isolation. In Journey with My Selves: A Memoir, 1901-1963, Livesay provided a detailed account of her life as a student and political activist in Paris and London before focusing on her marriage and subsequent widowhood. The memoir was well received and praised for its portrayal of the personal experiences and struggles that women encountered during the early part of the twentieth century. Livesay died in 1996 at the age of eighty- seven.
Livesay strongly believed in the process of writing poetry and urged others to write poetry, although she never imposed patterns upon her own work or the work of others. Considered by some critics to be a major Canadian poet, Livesay remains highly regarded for her rich use of metaphor and literary allusions.