The Vernacular Strain in Newfoundland Poetry: the 2020 Pratt Lecture By Mary Dalton

It’s hard to believe it was nearly 15 years ago that I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Dalton read from her then-new collection of poems, Merrybegot.  Even today, turning the pages of that book, my eye translates the words on the page to the lilt I recall in her voice. Even though I live on the other ‘wet coast’—far off on the other side of the country, something in my soul will always stir to the sound of Newfoundland speech. So it is in a spirit of celebration that I have read this thin volume, in which Dalton praises her fellow poets and their use of the everyday speech of her people.

As we’ve come to learn—too late in many cases—how language serves the transmission of a culture, Dalton makes a strong case for honouring, acknowledging, and preserving those words and phrases that have come to define the speech of Newfoundlanders. She poses arguments to validate the use of the vernacular and does so by citing a number of works by her poet colleagues—writers from the past as well as the present.

Going back to the 1970s, she calls attention to several poets, the work of Al Pittman in particular. Those poems of his which come to mind for me fall right into line with comments she makes about his work, not only the sounds of the words but the storytelling aspects. As a performer, he came across as a memorable character, as a true spinner of yarns, and one of the poems she cites serves as an example of both of these aspects. An account of the drowning of a young boy, it’s told like a conversation within a conversation, as in this excerpt:

…and Mr. Pelley said he got some fright
when he pulled him from the water
because he thought he was just a old onion bag…

Not ‘an’ old onion bag, but ‘a’. Not was frightened, but ‘got some fright’. And unlike me, Pittman doesn’t add any quote marks to set off those ordinary speech patterns, he simply writes them down.

Others of the same era take the sound aspects even farther, oddly, repeating a similar habit I’ve heard in Australia. Quoting only a portion of a poem by Harold Paddock, a professor of linguistics, Dalton offers his explanation of “Ow I Knows I’m a Newf”:

 Because of my laingwich:
h’In my case
h’I comes from dat Far Greatest Bay
And can’t ’andle h’aitches,
And ’aves dis h’irresistible h’urge
To write h’onreadable pomes.

Tracking further into the 1970s, Dalton credits the poet Tom Dawe with being an important influence, not only for writing poems with a strong narrative element but for including cultural motifs. “He has depicted many facets of Newfoundland life, writing poems based on folk tales, folk customs, and superstitions; he has made riddles, rhyming alphabets for children, and ballads.” His integration of such traditions as “Bonfire Night…[and] mummers’ / accordions rising on the moon” identifies his work as Newfoundland to the bone.

Even the social mores of Newfoundland earn a mention, in this case, from a poem by Agnes Walsh, an adjustment to the vocabulary of the day:

Body, she said, we never said body then,
it was too bold, we said system:
tell the doctor what part of your system hurts.

While I could continue quoting passages from this publication, I prefer to pay one last bit of attention to a somewhat homely (perhaps another Australianism of mine, a word that does not mean unpleasant to look at) and beautiful to me, excerpt from a poem by Carmelita McGrath.

…show me that low stone room where the laundry was done,
the sheets boiled, the pots where hares were simmered,
the small white attic room
where women whose features I bear
unpinned their hair with reddened hands.

Although the Pratt Lectures (after the poet E.J. Pratt) were established in 1968, this is only the second book in this series that I have encountered. Small enough to balance on one’s palm, they hold more than their weight in thoughtful inspiration.


Mary Dalton is Professor Emerita of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Poet Laureate of St. John’s. She is the author of five books of poetry, including MerrybegotRed Ledger, and Hooking: A Book of CentosMerrybegot, winner of the E. J. Pratt Poetry Award and a nominee for the Pat Lowther Award, is also an audiobook. Red Ledger was short-listed for the Atlantic Poetry Prize and the E. J. Pratt Poetry Award. Hooking: A Book of Centos was shortlisted for the E. J. Pratt Poetry Award and the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry, and named a Top Book of the Season by the CBC and the Globe and Mail. A prose collection, Edge: Essays, Reviews, Interviews, was published by Palimpsest Press in 2015. A letterpress chapbook, Waste Ground, illustrated by engraver Abigail Rorer, was published by Running the Goat Press in 2017. Mary Dalton hosts the poetry podcast Flahoolic.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Breakwater Books (Feb. 23 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 64 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1550819313
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1550819311
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Breakwater Books (Feb. 23 2022) Language ‏ : ‎ English Paperback ‏ : ‎ 64 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1550819313 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1550819311

Heidi Greco lives and writes in Surrey, BC on the territory of the Semiahmoo Nation and land that remembers the now-extinct Nicomekl People. Her most recent book, Glorious Birds (from Vancouver's Anvil Press) is an extended homage to one of her favourite films, Harold and Maude, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2021. More info at her website, heidigreco.ca

(Photo credit: George Omorean)