Lily Alice Lefevre
{{short description|Canadian poet and lyricist}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Lily Alice Lefevre
| image = Lily Alice Lefevre.jpg
| image_size = 150px
| caption = Lily Alice Lefevre in 1890
| birth_name = Lily Alice Cooke
| birth_date = {{birth date|1854|4|5|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kingston, Canada West
| death_date = {{death date and age|1938|10|17|1854|4|5|df=y}}
| death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia
| occupation =
| genres = Poetry, lyrics
}}
Lily Alice Lefevre (5{{nbsp}}April 1854{{snd}}17{{nbsp}}October 1938) was a Canadian poet and lyricist. After a success in Montreal with her poem "The Spirit of the Carnival", she moved in 1886 to Vancouver. Her 1895 book of poems, The Lions' Gate and Other Verses, was the first literary work published by a woman in British Columbia. Lefevre's poetry appeared in Canadian and British magazines. She also wrote lyrics to songs, performed by singers such as Clara Butt and John McCormack. She published two volumes of verse and a limited edition album. Lefevre became a patron of the arts and was a co-founder of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Biography
Lily Alice Cooke was born in Kingston, Ontario, on 5 April 1854. Her parents were Richard Cooke, an engineer, and Anna Plunkett.{{cite web |title=Lefevre, Lily Alice Cooke |url=https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/ceww-718/lefevre-lily-alice-cooke |publisher=Simon Fraser University |date=2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221145045/https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/ceww-718/lefevre-lily-alice-cooke|archive-date=21 December 2019|url-status=live}} She was educated in Montreal.{{Cite news| title=Mrs. J. M. Lefevre Died Yesterday| newspaper=The Times Colonist| location=Victoria| date=18 October 1938| page=7| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-colonist-mrs-j-m-lefevre-died-y/147677813/| access-date=19 May 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519152833/https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-colonist-mrs-j-m-lefevre-died-y/147677813/| archive-date=19 May 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} Writing under her pen name Fleurange, in 1875 she published the poem "Canada Wooed by the Seasons", in the Toronto magazine The Canadian Monthly and National Review.{{Cite journal| last=Fleurange (Lily Alice Lefevre)| journal=The Canadian Monthly and National Review| title=Canada Wooed by the Seasons| volume=7| number=4| location=Toronto| date=April 1875| pages=301–302| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.79240196&seCq=311&seq=311| via=HathiTrust }} In 1879, her poem "Across the Gulf" came out in the same periodical.{{Cite journal| last=Fleurange (LIly Alice Lefevre)| title=Across the Gulf| journal=Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review| location=Toronto| volume=3| number=3| date=September 1879| pages=294–295| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2935020&seq=314| via=HathiTrust }} In 1883, she married John Lefevre, a doctor, in Brockville, Ontario. Two years later, she won the $100 prize offered by the Montreal Witness newspaper for the poem, "The Spirit of the Carnival".{{Cite news| title=The Carnival| newspaper=The Gazette| location=Montreal| date=17 January 1885| page=5| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-the-carnival-the-gazette-1/147672017/| access-date=19 May 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519130448/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-the-carnival-the-gazette-1/147672017/| archive-date=19 May 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }}{{Cite book| last=O'Hagan| first=Thomas| title=Canadian Essays: Critical and Historical| publisher=William Briggs| location=Toronto| date=1901| chapter=Canadian Women Writers| page=74| url=https://archive.org/details/canadianessayscr0000ohag/mode/2up| via=Internet Archive }} It was anthologized in William Douw Lighthall's 1889 survey of Canadian verse, Songs of the Great Dominion.{{Cite book| editor-last=Lighthall| editor-first=William Douw| editor-link1=William Douw Lighthall| title=Songs of the Great Dominion| publisher=Walter Scott| location=London| date=1889| pages=203–208| url=https://archive.org/details/songsofgreatdomi00lighiala/mode/2up| via=Internet Archive }}
Lefevre arrived in Vancouver in 1886 after her husband was appointed surgeon of the western division of the Canadian Pacific Railway. She described the young city for the Montreal newspapers.{{Cite news| title=Women Writers of the Coast| newspaper=The Victoria Colonist| date=6 November 1909| page=3| via=Vancouver Public Library}} In 1889, her poem The Lions' Gateway (later renamed The Lions' Gate) was printed in The Vancouver Daily World newspaper on New Year's Eve.{{Cite news| last=Fleurange (Lily Alice Lefevre)| title=The Lions' Gateway| newspaper=Vancouver Daily World| date=31 December 1889| page=1| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/vancouver-daily-world-the-lions-gateway/147673272/| access-date=19 May 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519134056/https://www.newspapers.com/article/vancouver-daily-world-the-lions-gateway/147673272/| archive-date=19 May 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} Besides writing, Lefevre had some artistic ability as well, with proficiency in watercolours and charcoal. In 1890, her sketch of The Lions was reproduced in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly.{{Cite journal| title=Vancouver: A Great Sea-Port of the Twentieth Century| journal=Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly|date=May 1890| volume=29| number=5| page=516| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951000968251l&seq=530| access-date=7 July 2024| via=HathiTrust }} In 1894, one of her poems, "Requital", appeared in Canadian Magazine.{{Cite journal| last=Lefevre| first=Lily Alice| title=Requital| journal=Canadian Magazine| volume=2| issue=3| date=January 1894| page=223| url=https://archive.org/details/sim_canadian-magazine_1894-01_2_3/page/222/mode/2up| access-date=8 July 2024| via=Internet Archive }}
Her 1895 book, The Lions' Gate and Other Verses, was the first work of literature published by a woman in British Columbia.{{Cite book| last=Bringhurst| first=Robert|author-link1=Robert Bringhurst| title=Ocean, Paper, Stone: The catalogue of an exhibition of printed objects which chronicle more than a century of literary publishing in British Columbia| publisher=William Hoffer| date=1984| isbn=0-919758-07-X| page=19}} In its review, the British magazine The Spectator wrote that "the writer has a certain gift of writing vigorous verse", giving as an example an excerpt from "The Valley of Time".{{Cite journal| title=Current Literature| journal=The Spectator| volume=77| number=3562| date=3 October 1896| page=441| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031902946&seq=453| access-date=8 July 2024| via=HathiTrust }} Robert Bringhurst remarked that the book was the earliest literary work in the province to have "any sense of the landscape," especially in regards to how the environment could be transformed, creating new wealth.
Image:The Lions' Gate, and Other Verses.jpgThe title poem of her first book, "The Lions' Gate", as well as "The "Beaver" to the "Empress"", were published in 1903 in a beautiful limited edition album with accompanying photographs.{{Cite book| last=Zilm| first=Glennis| title=Early B.C. Books: An Overview of Trade Book Publishing in British Columbia in the 1800s with Checklists and Selected Bibliography Related to British Columbiana| chapter=Provincial Poetry| type= M.A. Thesis| publisher=Simon Fraser University| date=1981| pages=142–143| url=https://summit.sfu.ca/item/4064| access-date=19 May 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008013628/https://summit.sfu.ca/item/4064| archive-date=8 October 2023| url-status=dead}} In the following year, her poem "A Daughter's Voice" appeared in the British magazine the National Review.{{Cite journal| last=Lefevre| first=Lily Alice| title=A Daughter's Voice| journal=The National Review| date=May 1904| volume=43| issue=255| pages=418–420| url=https://archive.org/details/sim_the-national-review-1883_1904-05_43_255/page/418/mode/2up| access-date=7 July 2024| via=Internet Archive }} After her husband's death in 1906, Lefevre became a patron of the arts, and made her home, "Langaravine", on the cliffs of Point Grey, a gathering place for writers, artists, and scholars.{{Cite news| title=Mrs. Lily Alice Lefevre, Famed Vancouver Pioneer, Passes Away| newspaper=The Province| location=Vancouver| date=18 October 1938| page=2| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-province-mrs-lily-alice-lefevre-fa/150877666/| access-date=8 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708002003/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-province-mrs-lily-alice-lefevre-fa/150877666/| archive-date=8 July 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} Her circle included members of the Vancouver Poetry Society, the poets Annie Charlotte Dalton and E. J. Pratt, the teacher Pelham Edgar, and the editor of the Vancouver Sun, Robert Cromie. She was prominent in the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Authors Association. In 1909, the Victoria Colonist newspaper described her as a "polished writer of either prose or verse," and that Lord Dufferin included one of her sonnets in a compilation for his friends, alongside eminent English poets such as Tennyson and Browning.
Lefevre wrote lyrics set to music by composers. In 1897, her lyrics to "The Three Guides", composed by A. H. Behrend, were noted as being above the ordinary.{{Cite news| title=Music| newspaper=Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper| location=London| date=18 April 1897| page=6| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lloyds-weekly-newspaper-music-lloyds/150830472/| access-date=7 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707132641/https://www.newspapers.com/article/lloyds-weekly-newspaper-music-lloyds/150830472/| archive-date=7 July 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} In 1914, her patriotic song, "March on! Canada!" was performed by the singer Clara Butt and composer Harold Craxton in Victoria{{Cite news| title=In Canada After Most Eventful Tour| newspaper=The Victoria Daily Times| date=14 February 1914| page=15| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-in-canada-after/150813312/| access-date=7 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707022848/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-in-canada-after/150813312/| archive-date=7 July 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} and Winnipeg.{{Cite news| title=Sidelights on Shows Billed for the Coming Week| newspaper=The Winnipeg Tribune| date=14 March 1914| page=2 (second section)| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-winnipeg-tribune-sidelights-on-shows/150808691/| access-date=6 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707010855/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-winnipeg-tribune-sidelights-on-shows/150808691/| archive-date=7 July 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} The song was additionally recorded by the Irish tenor John McCormack in New York.{{Cite web| title=Item–Virtual Gramophone| website=Library and Archives Canada| url=
https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-tools-guides/arts-culture/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=248542150| access-date=7 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707032712/https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-tools-guides/arts-culture/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=248542150| archive-date=7 July 2024| url-status=live}} One of McCormack's favourite songs in his repertoire was "Mavis" written by Lefevre.
In 1921, Lefevre published her second book of poetry, A Garden By The Sea.{{Cite news| last=Pound| first=A. M.| title=Glimpses at New Canadian Books| newspaper=The Victoria Daily Times | date=18 October 1921| page=15| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-glimpses-at-new/150972406/| access-date=9 July 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709121721/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-glimpses-at-new/150972406/| archive-date=9 July 2024| url-status=live| via=Newspapers.com {{free access}} }} She was a co-founder of the Vancouver Art Gallery, opened in 1931. Three years later, she donated $5,000 for a scholarship and gold medal to the University of British Columbia in honor of her husband. In 1936, The Lions' Gate was again reprinted during Vancouver's Jubilee celebrations.{{Cite web| title=Lefevre, Lily Alice| website=ABC Bookworld| url=https://abcbookworld.com/writer/lefevre-lily-alice/| access-date=19 May 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918084613/https://abcbookworld.com/writer/lefevre-lily-alice/| archive-date=18 September 2020| url-status=live}} Lefevre died on 17 October 1938 at her home in Vancouver.
Works
=Anthologies=
References
{{Reflist|}}
External links
{{Commons category|Lily Alice Lefevre}}
- {{FadedPage|id=Lefevre, Lily Alice Cooke|name=Lily Alice Lefevre|author=yes}}
- [http://www.agreeableplace.com/lily-alice-lefevre-first-female-book-author-published-in-british-columbia/ Lily Alice Lefevre: First Female Book Author Published in British Columbia]
- [http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.15456/5?r=0&s=1 The Lions' Gate and Other Verses] Early Canadiana Online
- [https://ceww.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/the-lions-gate-and-the-beaver-to-the-empress-by-lily-alice-lefevre/ The Lions' Gate and The "Beaver" to the "Empress"]
- [https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-madam-butt-to-sing-recent/150830248/ Lyrics to March on! Canada!]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefevre, Lily Alice}}
Category:19th-century Canadian poets
Category:19th-century Canadian women writers
Category:20th-century Canadian poets
Category:20th-century Canadian women writers
Category:Canadian women songwriters