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Articles

Volume 07, Number 2 (1982)

Al Pittman and Tom Dawe: Island Poems

  • Terry Goldie
Submitted
May 22, 2008
Published
1982-06-06

Abstract

Tom Dawe and Al Pittman are Newfoundland poets, both of whom write from the geographical margins of the outports, outside the perceived centre of power. The islanders in these poems are always in danger both from outsiders and from the forces of nature. However, their insularity is never complete, as the poems suggest that the island is never a limiting frame, but rather a complete world in itself. Christianity and paganism go hand-in-hand in the mix of people, sea, religion, and (qualified) insularity. This insularity is not only geographical, but also is the insularity of most contemporary poets of modernism of removed and often anxious contemplation.