“In fellowship of death”: Animals and Nonhuman Nature in Irving Layton’s Ecopoetics

Authors

Jacob Bachinger, University College of the NorthFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-7-2015

Abstract

Irving Layton is not usually considered a “nature poet,” yet his work often features careful observations of nonhuman nature. Jacob Bachinger’s ecocritical reading of a few of Irving Layton's most frequently anthologized poems examines the underappreciated ecopoetic aspect of his work. Bachinger pays specific attention to a recurring theme in many of Layton's best known poems, such as “The Bull Calf” and “A Tall Man Executes a Jig”—the poet’s examination of a dead or dying animal. Layton’s examination of the deaths of these animals exists on a continuum in which the poet moves from an antipastoral to a postpastoral position.

Recommended Citation / Citation recommandée

Bachinger, Jacob. "“In fellowship of death”: Animals and Nonhuman Nature in Irving Layton’s Ecopoetics." The Goose, vol. 13 , no. 2 , article 3, 2015,
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol13/iss2/3.