A Kind of Perseverance

At the 1963 Poetry Conference in Vancouver, Margaret Avison's answer to the question `What makes a poet's language distinctive?' was: `It is saying ``I am here and not not-there''.' In these Pascal Lectures, Margaret's context is that of a Christian trying to live out and communicate her faith in a secular environment: `... if we are here, we cannot genuinely be there as well. But we can hope to be ``not not-there''.'

`I am here and not not-there,' then, describes Margaret's...
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At the 1963 Poetry Conference in Vancouver, Margaret Avison's answer to the question `What makes a poet's language distinctive?' was: `It is saying ``I am here and not not-there''.' In these Pascal Lectures, Margaret's context is that of a Christian trying to live out and communicate her faith in a secular environment: `... if we are here, we cannot genuinely be there as well. But we can hope to be ``not not-there''.'

`I am here and not not-there,' then, describes Margaret's stance both as a poet and as a Christian. She would often say that the poetry takes precedence over the poet; similarly the person of Christ takes precedence over the person talking about Him. She hoped her words would communicate to the reader/listener without being distorted by a personal response to her as writer/speaker.

In these lectures `Misunderstanding is Damaging' and `Understanding is Costly' Margaret's context is specifically life as a Christian in a secular university. The tension between being `in the world' yet `not of it' meant she must listen to and live with compassion towards non-believers without compromising her own values, a duality which could easily lead to misunderstanding and hurt on both sides.

Interestingly, some titles of Margaret's poetry collections reflect her aim to hold the eternal and the temporal, the `I am here' and the `not not-there', in healthy tension throughout her years as a Christian: Not Yet but Still, Always Now, even No Time in its double meaning. She was continually working out her `own salvation with fear and trembling' (Phil.2:12, NKJV). These lectures give us a rare glimpse into the process, which is the practice of `a kind of perseverance'.