SOURCE: Thompson, Elizabeth. “Roughing It in the Bush: Patterns of Emigration and Settlement in Susanna Moodie's Poetry.” Canadian Poetry 40 (spring-summer 1997): 58-73.

In the following essay, Thompson analyzes the use and placement of poetry contained in Roughing It in the Bush.

Although some preliminary studies¹ have been made of the poetry included in the early editions² of Susanna Moodie's Roughing It in the Bush (1852), much is left to be said. The poetry is an interesting addition to the text, and an examination of Roughing It or of any single sketch ought to consider both the topic and the placement of the poems. The poetry, especially that written by Moodie herself,³ echoes contradictions apparent in the prose—as for example, the ambivalent responses to Canada. Many poems in Roughing It discuss the difficulties of emigration (the poet looks back to a lost English Eden), while others express an enjoyment of...