Phyllis Webb (April 8, 1927 – November 11, 2021) was a Canadian poet and broadcaster.

Webb's poetry had diverse influences, ranging from neo-Confucianism to the field theory of composition developed by the Black Mountain poets. Critics have described her collections Naked Poems (1965) and Wilson's Bowl (1980) as important works in contemporary Canadian literature.

As a broadcaster at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in the 1960s, Webb created programs including Ideas and Extension, a television program about Canadian poetry. She left the CBC in 1967 to return to British Columbia, where she remained for much of her life.

Early life and education

Phyllis Webb was born on April 8, 1927, in Victoria, British Columbia. She attended the University of British Columbia, where she received a BA in English and philosophy in 1949, and McGill University. In 1957 Webb won a grant that allowed her to study theatre in France. Wilson's Bowl (1980) adopts a new poetics centred on a critique of political and interpersonal power, drawing from Haida stories "to undermine the binary structures of Western thought". Critic Northrop Frye called it a "landmark". Also in 1967, Webb created the CBC television program Extension, a series about Canadian poetry.

Honours

In 1980, Webb was awarded a prize of CA$2,300 by fellow Canadian poets in recognition of her book Wilson's Bowl, which was overlooked for a Governor General's Award nomination that year. The award citation stated, in part, "this gesture is a response to your whole body of work as well as to your presence as a touchstone of true good writing in Canada, which we all know is beyond awards and prizes".

Webb won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, 1982, for The Vision Tree.

She won Canada Council awards in 1981 and 1987.

She became an officer of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Personal life

Soon after Extension finished, Webb moved from Toronto to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, where she lived for much of her life. Webb died at Lady Minto Hospital on Salt Spring Island on November 11, 2021.

  • In a Garden of the Pitti Palace; A Pang Cantata: 2 New Poems. Vancouver: Pica Press, 1961.
  • The Sea is Also a Garden: Poems. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1962.
  • Naked Poems. Vancouver: Periwinkle Press, 1965.
  • Hanging Fire. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1990.
  • Hulcoop, John, ed. Selected Poems, 1954–1965. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1971.
  • Thesen, Sharon, ed. Selected Poems: The Vision Tree. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1982.
  • Hulcoop, John, ed. Peacock Blue: The Collected Poems. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2014.

Prose

  • Nothing but Brush Strokes: Selected Prose. Edmonton, AB: NeWest, 1995.

Edited

  • The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2004 Shortlist. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2004.

Notes

Sources

Further reading

  • Cash, Gwen. “Portrait of a Poet: Victoria's Phyllis Webb.” B.C. Magazine April 6, 1957: 17.
  • Fagan, Cary. “The Articulate Anger of Phyllis Webb.” Books In Canada 20.1 (1991): 21–23.
  • Hulcoop, John. “Phyllis Webb and the Priestess of Motion.” Canadian Literature 32 (1967): 29–39.
  • Kamboureli, Smaro. “Seeking Shape, Seeking Meaning: An interview with Phyllis Webb.” West Coast Line 25.3 (1991): 21–41.
  • Knight, Lorna. “Oh for the Carp of a Critic: Research in the Phyllis Webb Papers.” West Coast Line 26.2 (1992): 120–127.
  • Macfarlane, Julian. Rev. of Selected Poems, by Phyllis Webb. The Capilano Review 1 (1972): 53–58.
  • Munton, Ann. “Excerpt from an Interview with Phyllis Webb.” West Coast Line 25.3 (1991): 81–85.
  • Potvin, Liza. "Phyllis Webb: The Voice That Breaks"
  • Sujir, Leila. “Addressing a Presence: An Interview with Phyllis Webb.” Prairie Fire 9.1 (1988): 30–43.
  • Reading by Webb, 1966, via SpokenWeb