XLVI THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



front, whose interest lies in their transcript character — transcripts of 

 hourly trial and danger; of incidents of battle; of sad and tragic 

 partings with the dying brave; of regimental losses in the charge; of 

 heroic merriment under the miseries and privations of the winter 

 dugout, the cold, the flooded trenches and the Flanders mud. 



Naturally, several of the surviving Confederation Poets overlap 

 the nascent Afterwar School by treating of such themes. Frederick 

 George Scott has served at the front as chaplain since 1914, has lost 

 one son killed in action and has seen another part with an eye by a 

 German bullet. Out of the fulness of his heart he has composed 

 several of our finest poems on the war. Charles G. D. Roberts, who 

 also holds a commission at the front, Duncan Campbell Scott, 

 Wilfred Campbell, Mrs. Harrison ("Seranus"), Mrs. Isabella Eccle- 

 stone Mackay, and Miss Machar, have all contributed to the expres- 

 sion of war life. And Robert W. Service — who might be called a 

 belated member of the Confederatio'n School, because of his creation 

 of the poetic Yukon — and Theodore Goodridge 'Roberts, son and 

 literary pupil of his father Charles G. D. Roberts, are doing good work- 

 in France. All these writers of pre-war attainment are giving our 

 war verse some of its first forms and part of its lines of impulse. By 

 reason of their previous experience, they promptly seize some of its 

 characteristics. Yet it is a question whether they do or do not have, 

 in their previous training, a disadvantage as well as an advantage 

 over the new writers who will be wholly inspired by the new era. 



The Great War period itself must be regarded as a new starting 

 point, the foundation of the After-War literary edifice. 



What then do we find in this Great War period, now evidently 

 shaped with considerable distinctness ? Is it not the following 

 qualities: 



1. Dreadful experiences. 



2. Supreme heroism. 



3. Ideals of fidelity — chivalry, honor, patriotism to Canada, 

 Empire, and humanity. 



4. Hatred of Wrong. 



From these have resulted self-confidence, intensity of convictions, 

 directness of view, dignity and new outlook, — strong elements of 

 impulse which are certain to lead to constructive action in the near 

 future, and that action will, when it arrives at maturity in our national 

 affairs, necessarily flow along the lines of those experiences, ideals and 

 impulses. 



