Beatrice Redpath

Beatrice Redpath ( Peterson; June 19, 1886 – February 11, 1937) was a Canadian poet and short story writer. As with Victoria Grace Blackburn, Louise Morey Bowman, and Wilson MacDonald, Redpath was considered a poet of Canada's "Restoration Period". She was also a recipient of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.) prize for short story. Redpath died in 1937.

Early life and education Beatrice Constance Peterson was born in Montreal, June 19, 1886. Her father was Peter Alexander Peterson, Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Her mother's maiden surname was Langlois. Beatrice had an older brother and an older sister. Both parents were native Canadians.

Peterson was educated in private schools in her native city, until she was seventeen years old, when she moved to Goderich, Ontario, and lived there for five years.

Personal life Earlier in her life, Redpath resided at St. Hilaire and at Toronto. She died at her home in Montreal, 11 February 1937.

Reception "When a poet belongs to no clique or côterie, nor has established a reputation, opinions come uneasily. Beatrice Red path in 'Drawn Shutters' can be commonplace in the noble contemplation of essential life: a virtue in poetry. She comes down at times to the minor level of 'The Dancer.' But ‘To One Lying Dead' is a poem of true loveliness, elegiac without dullness, eloquent without gush. Beatrice Red path feels the passions of rebellion and indignation. But to her they imply more than mere dissatisfaction and chafing. Indeed, one might make the quality of those passions the supreme test of character, certainly of poetic power. There is evidence in the volume of life lived at first hand, of the discipline of actuality that forces people either to a calm, strong normality, or to hectic agony, and disquietness of spirit. And it is because the poet soul rises to the reality of experience that her poems will not depress. Of her brief songs it may be said that they come like sunshine amid clouds, themselves noble and impressive." -T. P.'s Weekly.

Awards I.O.D.E. prize for short story, 1923

Selected works Drawn Shutters, 1914 White Lilac, 1921