by ~Gregg Rowe~
November 2, 1916 – November 19, 2005
Here is Henri Tranquille
Bookstore propriétaire
since nineteen thirty-nine
dans librarie Tranquille --
closed in seventy-five
Here is Henri Tranquille
haven for Duplessis --
era Bohemians,
literary thinker
branded church’s demon
Here is Henri Tranquille
refuses his priesthood;
launches manifesto --
with le Rufus Global;
bricks hurled -- not balls of snow.
Here is Henri Tranquille
fighter before Quiet
Revolution -- anti
establishment -- fights so
banned classics we could read
Author notes
HENRI TRANQUILLE, BOOKSTORE OWNER: 1916-2005
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060131/OBTRANQUILLE3
www.litterature.org/detailauteur.asp?numero=739
Tranquille
--to be silent, quiet, peaceful
(I just love the irony of this French last name that Monsieur Tranquille was able to provide to this poem!
Line 4
Dans librarie Tranquille
Translated: In the Library Tranquille
Line 7
Maurice Duplessis
Served as the premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. It is said that Quebec's Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, in which the French majority cast off its religious and colonial heritage, would never have taken root if not for the widespread discontent sown by his government. He was a life-long bachelor.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Duplessis
Lines 13-14
Le Rufus Global
Mr. Borduas's manifesto was a gambit that shocked Quebec society. The painter virulently attacked the cozy relationship that existed between the church and premier Maurice Duplessis's government. Contemptuous of civil rights, Mr. Duplessis gave the church a free hand in its ability to manipulate the province's cultural identity. Everything from art schools to publishing houses were controlled by the church, and artists such as Mr. Borduas felt unjustly manipulated by the clergy. Like many of his contemporaries, he was financially dependent on the church for commissions and teaching contracts and had raged inwardly against the mechanisms that inhibited free expression.
The ideas presented in the Le Refus Global were about a dozen years ahead of their time. But in 1947, the virulent attack against the establishment was not palatable to the Quebec mainstream. Although all 400 copies of the manifesto sold out immediately, Le Refus Global was ridiculed by the conservative-Catholic press. Mr. Borduas was fired from his art-school teaching job, as were many of the manifestos signatories. The painter spent the remainder of his days in Paris, where he effectively lived the life of an exile.
Ironically, he died of a heart attack in 1960, the same year that Quebec's Quiet Revolution began and the province's Catholics started casting off their religious heritage.
French Version
pedagogie.cegep-fxg.qc.ca/programmes/artslettres/ce/etudiants/Domimois.760/sel
English Version
66.218.71.231/language/translation/translatedPage.php?tt=url&text=http%3a//ped
Line 15
Mark Twain’s Quote In most newspapers today, the brick is replaced with snowball, whenever it is reprinted (I guess they thought Mark Twain might have been inciting violence and editors did a political-correctness stand and re-wrote the quote!
This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window.
The New York Times, December 10, 1881
MARK TWAIN IN MONTREAL
HIS SPEECH AT THE BANQUET IN HIS HONOR.
AN EXPLANATION HOW HE CAME TO BE IN AN OSTENSIBLY FOREIGN LAND - LOOKING FORWARD TO THE GOOD TIMES COMING WHEN LITERARY PROPERTY WILL BE AS SACRED AT WHISKY.
www.twainquotes.com/18811210.html
Lines 16-19
The Quiet Revolution
Claude Bélanger,
Department of History,
Marianopolis College
The Quiet Revolution is the name given to a period of Quebec history extending from 1960 to 1966 and corresponding to the tenure of office of the Liberal Party of Jean Lesage. The term appears to have been coined by a Toronto journalist who, upon witnessing the many and far reaching changes taking place in Quebec, declared that what was happening was nothing short of a revolution, albeit a quiet one.
Underlying the concept of the Quiet Revolution is a perception or interpretation of the time period that preceded it and which is called “duplessisme”, from the name of the Prime Minister of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis. Quebec, under the Duplessis era, was supposed to be characterised by traditionalism, conservatism and, generally, a rejection of contemporary ways and values. In consequence, the province had fallen behind, had acquired increasingly negative characteristics and had had to live through “les années noires”, a sort of a Quebec equivalent to the “Dark Ages”. This perception is broadly challenged by many social scientists today. However, there is no doubt that the death of Duplessis, and the subsequent election of the Liberal Party of Jean Lesage, ushered a period of intense changes and activities, the sum total of which seemed to amount to a Revolution. Certainly, few, at the time, challenged that what was taking place was a Revolution.
www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/events/quiet.htm
To Write A Monchielle (Monchielle)
by Starhiker
allpoetry.com/Column/1616570
If you decide to write a Monchielle of your own, I would be honored if you put "Monchielle" in the title of your poem, and add the following to the Author's Comment:
Many of you may not be familiar with a Monchielle, it is a form that Starhiker created... A Monchielle is as such; first line repeats in each stanza, four stanzas in total, consisting of five lines, each of six syllables, and lines three and five rhyme. The pattern is "Abcdc Aefgf Ahiji Aklml"...
An Example of a Monchielle
Sticks and Stones (Monchielle)
by Starhiker
allpoetry.com/Poem/1694407
Monchielle
A Collection by Starhiker
allpoetry.com/list/23837
Written February 3rd, 2006
In a list
What did you think
Comments
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Very interesting poem, Gregg, but as far as I see, it's not a Monchielle. You have the repeating line, and the six syllable count is in, but the 3rd and 5th lines don't seem to rhyme... For the story behind the poem, you have my applause, though!
Jim
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Very good poem marvelous I would applaud it but I have no more applauds great poem.
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That seems very interesting. It seems that we cut and change things so often that we tend to lose themeaning of things in the process. I thik every person has the right to see what the author truly believes even if it seems violent at first because I am sure the meaning is not as violent. Truthful you are. I hope you stay that way.
Write on.
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