I've Been Had!!!
I've been had by the irrepressible "Canary" who at writing group the other day told us we should all have read the wonderful poems of that famous Saskatchewan author Sarah Binks! Feeling just a little ignorant about not knowing such an icon of Canadian literature I decided to 'google' and found Sarah to have been the creation of one Paul Hiebert, a Manitoba professor who wrote a book called "Sarah Binks: The Life and Times of a Little Known Poetic Genius." I read elsewhere that Sarah, albeit unconsciously, considers the trivial a fit subject for lyricism, and we in turn find the incongruity in her work hilarious. Apparently there have been several Amazon reviews which took it for granted that Sarah was real! For myself, I haven't had such a good chuckle in ages!
Sarah Binks
Written by Paul Hiebert
Afterword by Charles Gordon
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Paul Hiebert’s critical biography of the wholly mythical but irrepressible and irresistible Sarah Binks, “the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan,” who gave her life to poetry and died a martyr to the muse, is a hilarious analysis of her career and influences, along with a memorable selection of the poet's tenderest, most inspiring writings.
This masterpiece of satire won the 1947 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
Sarah BinksWritten by Paul Hiebert
Afterword by Charles Gordon
 |  | Category: Fiction - Literary; Fiction Publisher: New Canadian Library Format: Paperback, 184 pages Pub Date: April 1995 Price: $9.95 ISBN: 978-0-7710-3453-4 (0-7710-3453-9) |
 |
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Paul Hiebert’s critical biography of the wholly mythical but irrepressible and irresistible Sarah Binks, “the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan,” who gave her life to poetry and died a martyr to the muse, is a hilarious analysis of her career and influences, along with a memorable selection of the poet's tenderest, most inspiring writings.
This masterpiece of satire won the 1947 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
posted by mamie @ 3:39 PM
3 Comments:
At 10:33 PM,
canary said…
heh, heh, heh
At 10:47 PM,
canary said…
Perhaps you would like a sample?
This is from the chapter on Ole ( the hired hand ) and his influence of Sarah's poetry.
" It is undoubtedly to Ole's influence that we owe the Song of the Sea, characterized by Professor Dumplin as the finest sea song ever to come out of the drybelt. Sarah had never seen the sea, in fact it was not until years later that she saw Lake Wascana, but the blood of the Vikings flowed in Ole's veins and from Ole's veins to Sarah's verse was but a step.
Song of the Sea
All hail, all hail to the shriek of the gale,
Huzah, huzah to the boat,
As with the mainsail rent,
And the keel all bent,
The mainfore gallant sail split like a tent,
The captain dead,
And the mate in bed,
The ship's carpenter downstairs sounding the lead,
She runs amuck, and she runs amoke,
O'er the rollicking, frolicking bounding main.
Rear Admiral R. N. Saltspit, retired, in a letter to the Times calls attention to a technical error in this poem in that the duties of a ship's carpenter are not to sound the lead but to swing in, but he adds in commendation, 'The colonies are doing some remarkable things. Miss Binks charts her way through the shoals and intricacies of metre in a way that makes us all feel four sheets to the wind...'"
At 9:13 PM,
mamie said…
Oh, yes, thank you, Canary! That is very funny! Maybe we should try our hand at writing a Sarah Binks poem? Here's my take on the meal I had last night at a country eatery which shall remain nameless:
"The haddock was putrid,
The glistening oil
Shone on the plate,
That had been wahed by the toil
Of the young dishwasher.........."
Oh, I give up.....!
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