with Archivist Peter Bowman
|
The Early Years |
In 1955, the fourth issue of The Tower was published with a few surprises. The most notable was an excerpt from a letter sent to Ida Sutherland Groom from John Masefield, the Poet Laureate of England, regarding the Tower. The excerpt read: “I hope that your group may prosper in all good ways of writing, and read and create much, and have a jolly time in the doing and trying. Yours sincerely, John Masefield.” Another surprise was the inclusion of four poems by Ruth Cleaves Hazelton. She worked in some yet unexplained capacity for the Cirencester Literary Agency in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Her name was suggested as one of four writer contacts provided in a letter dated April, 4, 1955, from Mrs. Douglas Scott, the Editorial Secretary for Dr. Lorne Pierce. This marked a major departure from the publishing of only the small circle of “Friends and Associates of McMaster University” which incidentally still appeared on the fly leaf of the 1955 volume. The last pleasant surprise was that Dr. Lorne Pierce consented to providing another short foreword to the magazine. It reads, |
"A decade or so ago the publication of poetry in Canada was confined to a few periodicals, and was sponsored by two or three book publishers. Today, Canadian poets are still greatly in need of more and better outlets, but there is a better collection of year-books, and college-sponsored magazines, the “little” magazines. Canadian poets and artists are still the most creative and distinctive contributors to our national culture, yet they have to fight for their lives. "Amid the profuse flowering of Canadian verse it is good to see the survival of The Tower. Not only has it managed to exist, but, what is more important, it has succeeded in being alive. The Tower in its fourth year is more mature, better in many ways, than the first issue. There is a deeper understanding of people, and a more competent sharing of experience. "Friends of this brave venture hope that it may become the trysting place of a wide circle of poets — the Niagara Peninsula rich in history and legend, and then West and South, may there be no end to its growth or limit to its dominion." |
The fourth publication of The Tower included eleven poets. Ida Sutherland Groom had four of the thirty poems published in the twenty-four page volume. On page 6 we discover a poem typical of Miss Groom. PILATE’S WIFE “Pilate, have no more dealings with this man,” He read the supplication with a smile, Uneasily he resolved with the mob But the Lord rose again, the little herd On page 14 we find in a more modern style, GEOMETRIC PATTERNS Everywhere Strange geometric patterns And on page 20, ART There, on the fine white sand it lay alone, The pragmatists would say it was a stone; That smoothness, roundness, whiteness are all thoughts — On September 26, 1955 this letter arrived in Miss Ida Sutherland Groom’s mailbox at apartment #5, 3 Sterling St. in Hamilton, Ontario from Dr. Lorne Pierce on letterhead from The Ryerson Press Accounting Department. |
Dear Miss Groom: Cordially yours, |
Found in the archives loose amongst all the gathered papers was a newspaper clipping undated, unsigned, and impossible to determine from which newspaper it had been clipped. (The writing is superb so with apologies to its newspaper and its author I show it to you.) It appeared under the heading Poems followed by an introduction to The Tower and its asking price of one dollar. |
“The heart and soul of literature is the pamphlet, the brochure. There is something significant in that “tomorrow’s novels,” read today and outdated yesterday, need the comforting gaudy covers of a five-dollar book to prosper, but art needs no adornment. Students, graduates and professors at Hamilton’s seat of academic learning have collected representative works into this slim volume of poetry — the most utterly unprofitable, and thus perhaps one of the most worthy, of the arts. "No Canadian with a feeling for literature could help but experience pride in the efforts of the “little poets” of his country, who are publishing their work with only small funds and their own energy to back them. Their vigour puts to shame those who cry out for governmental aid of the arts, as if the government could subsidize a sunset or the pomp of the sea. "Canadian poets should be elated at their great opportunity. They are building the bedrock of Canadian culture, that one day, long overdue, will hit our public hard, destroy the stigma of its being Canadian and the nervous acceptance of its being Canadian at a blow, and be welcomed — because it is good art. The contributors to this excellent pamphlet are part of this great enterprise.” |
And so, there it is. The Tower Poetry Society had seemed to establish itself as an ongoing proposition. However, the group was not yet referring to itself as the Tower Poetry Society. It was simply the McMaster Group and held no regularly scheduled meetings. The only place the members actually met one another was among the pages of the publication, The Tower. And it clearly was being propelled by only one person, Ida Sutherland Groom. |
Previous Essay |
Next Essay |