Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Whylah Falls

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
7.8
/
10
1
Votes
Alchetron
7.8
7.8
1 Ratings
100
90
80
71
60
50
40
30
20
10
Rate This

Rate This

Originally published
  
1990

Genres
  
Poetry, Fiction

3.9/5
Goodreads

Playwright
  
Whylah Falls t2gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcSsK4ugRoMAkPlfCQ

Whylah Falls is a long narrative poem (or "verse novel") by George Elliott Clarke, published in book form in 1990.

As with much of Clarke's work, the poem is inspired by the history and culture of the Black Canadian community in Nova Scotia, which he refers to as the "Africadian" community (a combination of the words "African" and "Acadian"). Clarke himself describes the work as a "blues spiritual about love and the pain of love".

Whylah Falls tells the story of several pairs of black lovers in southwestern Nova Scotia in the 1930s, through dramatic monologues, songs, sermons, sonnets, newspaper snippets, recipes, haiku and free verse. It has also been released in audiobook form, with an original jazz score performed by Joe Sealy, Jamie Gattie and Steve Macdonald to accompany the reading. Clarke also adapted the poem into a stage play, which premiered in 1999.

Whylah Falls was a winner of the Archibald Lampman Award for poetry. The book was also chosen for the CBC's inaugural Canada Reads competition in 2002, where it was championed by author Nalo Hopkinson.

References

Whylah Falls Wikipedia


Similar Topics