Canadian Literature

“Canadians are desperate for a Keats,” proclaimed the narrator of The Favourite Game , and Cohen himself seems to have been the poet designated to fill that role. The poets Louis Dudek and Irving Layton were his first mentors, and he was celebrated specifically for his contributions to Canadian literature. One could argue that Cohen was a member of a renaissance of Canadian literature that began in the second half of the twentieth century, and would include near-contemporaries Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, both of whom began their careers as poets. Moreover, Cohen’s songs should be read in relation to the other Canadian songwriters whose careers were contemporary and sometimes intersected, especially Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. These songs are also a contribution to that literature, and this chapter reads Cohen’s songs in that context, and to understand his importance to Canadian literature.