SOURCE: MacDonald, Mary Joy. “Inglorious Battles: People and Power in Crawford's ‘Malcolm's Katie’.” Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews, no. 23 (fall/winter 1988): 31-46.

In the following essay, MacDonald reveals issues of power and gender in “Malcolm's Katie.”

Critics of Isabella Valancy Crawford's “Malcolm's Katie: A Love Story” have tended to concentrate attention on certain problems of the poem, while overlooking others which may ultimately prove to be of equal significance. An important instance of this pattern is that, while most critics recognize spiritual growth in Max and Alfred, and a few accord Alfred a partially constructive role, only a minority address either the possibility of spiritual growth in Katie, notably in her ability and will to assert power, or the role that Alfred might play in such a development. Yet, when we contrast an initial view of Katie in the constrictive worlds of Malcolm and Max with her performance...