30 Facts About Raymond Knister

In 1919 Raymond Knister began writing and publishing stories and poems about Canadian farm life.

Raymond Knister worked in 1922 and 1923 as a book reviewer for the Windsor Border Cities Star and the Detroit Free Press.

Raymond Knister had work published in the Paris literary magazine This Quarter in 1925.

In 1926, Raymond Knister put together a collection of nature poetry, Windfalls for Cider.

Raymond Knister was fascinated with John Keats, the 19th century English Romantic poet who had died young.

Raymond Knister accumulated "letters and stacks of books about Keats," according to his daughter, and enrolled his wife as a research assistant to help him go through it all.

Raymond Knister got to know poet Dorothy Livesay and novelist Frederick Philip Grove.

Grove read My Star Predominant, and encouraged Raymond Knister to enter the manuscript in the Graphic Publishers' Canadian Novel contest.

Dorothy Livesay has claimed that "Raymond Knister seemed to epitomize the struggle of a generation".

Ross, Arthur Stringer, and others, Raymond Knister was a "Transitional modern" whose poetry, fiction, and criticism showed the effects of the many forces which were changing Canadian poetry and Canadian society.

Besides his four novels, Raymond Knister wrote roughly one hundred poems, almost as many short stories and sketches, and dozens of critical works, including essays, editorials, and book reviews.

Raymond Knister's fiction provides us with some important clues for a clearer understanding of his verse.

In My Star Predominant Raymond Knister has Keats give voice to ideas about poetry which are really his own.

Raymond Knister is shrouded in mystery as the characters in this rambling old house come alive vividly for us.

Raymond Knister is considered one of the first modern poets in Canada.

In both his poetry and his fiction Raymond Knister presented sharply realistic portrayals of everyday images and events in order to illustrate their exceptional qualities, and communicated these impressions in a conversational language style.

Raymond Knister served his literary apprenticeship in the American midwest and his poetry, like Carl Sandburg's, was regional and realistic.

The American poet for whom Raymond Knister showed the highest regard was Edwin Arlington Robinson.

In "A Great Poet for Today" Raymond Knister praised Robinson for his ability to create characters as well as any novelist and for his skill in adapting his form to suit the character he is describing.

Raymond Knister claimed that it is this realism which accounted for the book's continued popularity.

Raymond Knister contrasted Housman's realism with the artificiality of contemporaries:.

Once again it is easy to see how Raymond Knister shared general characteristics, but difficult to perceive specific similarities because of his imagist style.

Two Georgians who seem to have especially influenced Raymond Knister are Edward Thomas and Edwin Muir, both of whom often describe farm life.

One more complaint which Raymond Knister had against Canadians was that they were 'colonials'.

Raymond Knister ably described their cultural colonialism when he wrote of the "ideal Canadian litterateur" as.

Raymond Knister attacked the conservatism of Canadian taste, especially as it was reflected in the magazines.

Raymond Knister himself was unable to find a Canadian magazine which would print his work:.

Raymond Knister's bitter feeling that he was one of a generation of writers who were being ignored is obvious.

This, probably, was what Raymond Knister was doing in his excessively fierce criticism.

Raymond Knister was prepared to offer a solution to the problems he perceived.