The Old Red Shirt: Lost Poets of British Columbia's Past
- Transmontanus
- 112 pages, 7×10 inches
- Price: $16 CAD · $16 USD
- ISBN: 9781554200061
- Date published: 2004-07-08
- Availability: OI
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About The Old Red Shirt
Welcome to BCs frontier days, when loggers and laundresses penned poetry, and entertainment consisted of reciting verse 'round the fire.
The Old Red Shirt is a rollicking collection of oldfashioned pioneer poetry. Selected by longtime amateur BC historian Yvonne Klan, the poems address the social issues of the day, teach moral lessons, and reflect the unique atmosphere of the provinces early days.
Klans lively and informative prose introduces us to the largerthanlife characters behind the verses. Read about Dr. George Dawson, Dawson Creeks namesake, a hunchbacked man who explored the province and penned surprisingly delicate poetry about geography and rocks.
Shed a tear for John Fraser, son of Simon, who lost his fortune to the Caribou Gold Rush and slit his own throat at the age of 32. Shout "hurrah" for the hurdygurdy lasses as they play havoc with the hearts of the golddigging lads.
The Old Red Shirt is by turns colourful, tragic and funny.
The Old Red Shirt is number 12 in the Transmontanus series.