Abraham Klein On Canadian Culture Analysis

Canadian literature, especially at the beginning of its time, has had a tendency to be defined as the stories of Christian caucasian men and women. Abraham Moses (A.M) Klein breaks us away from this phenomenon as one of the greatest Canadian poets who came from a Jewish lineage instead. He was born in Ratno, Ukraine in 1909 and moved to Montreal, Quebec Canada a year later (Trehearne, 2010, 133). He was born into an orthodox Jewish family, and his exposure to the Jewish faith deeply influenced his writing career. Everything he wrote and worked towards was related to his faith (Trehearne, 2010, 133). His poems are filled with religious context, political opinions and incredible literary style. In every aspect, Klein is considered to be the “most …show more content…
The side of Canada he wrote about was the French-Canadian and Native side as those were the communities he spent the majority of his time in. Perhaps the most obvious of his poems on Canadian culture and Montreal, is the poem Montreal itself. This poem celebrates the beauty of a city where two languages, French and English, can coexist and form a multifaceted culture. The poem is a written explanation of all the various places and parts of Montreal. He writes the poem with both English and French words, seen vividly in the line "I,/ Auditor of your music, cherish the/ Joined double-melodied vocabulaire,/ Where English vocable and roll Ecossic,/ Bilinguefact your air!” (Heft, 1997). Presumably, he does this to represent how Montreal is a place where both languages succeed. This poem is a brilliant summary of all the parts that make Montreal such a wonderful city, but even more Canada a wonderful country. In addition to Montreal, the poems The Rocking Chair, The Mountain, The Break-Up, The Grain Elevator and Political Meeting all directly cite places in Quebec, Canada as parts of their verses. His writings in these poems sought to forge an identity for French Canadians and minorities living in Canada, and how the Western culture was a part of them …show more content…
His work contains a lot of Jewish sayings and words that critics have said makes his work not relatable or hard to understand, but to those who can work past this, his poems take a whole new level (CITATION). It is undeniable that Klein’s literary style always allows him to make “a sound, reasonable argument and defend his position with a quick wit, has given readers a stimulating chronicle of the period in which he wrote” (A.M, n.d). In Hitleriad we, as if we did not already, see his image of Hitler clearly. In Heirloom we observe that one can indeed be an outside admire of one’s own faith. The simple and clear arguments in Klein’s work add to our reasons to admire