Simone Routier's name is usually cited among those of the significant poets of the first half of the twentieth century. She was the respected associate of many Quebec authors and critics, both those who stayed in Canada and those who traveled to France between World War I and World War II. Her work offers an account of her personal search for knowledge, of her travels and involvement in literary discussions, ideological debates, and historical events. In her early writings she demonstrated a strong sense of her material presence as a woman in the world. She was one of the first Quebec poets to explore fully the theme of love. Her work is also significant as a lucid account of the act of creation. In her later volumes the theme of fervent religious faith is dominant.

Routier's work shows the influence of the French symbolists, of the French moralist...