Miss Lou, beloved Jamaican poet and storyteller, has passed on

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: Miss Lou, beloved Jamaican poet and storyteller, has passed on
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sue&Milt on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 09:04 am: Edit Post

Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley, a Jamaican poet and folklorist who popularized Jamaica's culture before its independence from Britain, died Wednesday in Toronto.She was 86.

Known affectionately as Miss Lou, she had lived in Toronto for 25 years, but travelled widely in a role as Jamaican ambassador for cultural affairs.

Growing up in Kingston, she developed an early interest in acting and appeared in local theatre productions in the 1940s. By 1948 she became the first black person to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. But after 2 years of studying and acting she returned home.

Around that time she had her own BBC radio program, Caribbean Carnival, and later went on to host Miss Lou's Views on Jamaican television for 15 years. In 1953 she recorded an album called Jamaican Foksongs and in 1966 published a collection of well-received poems called Jamaica Labrish.

Her writing did not always meet with approval. Early on, her use of Jamaican dialect had been seen as crude, if not subversive. "All the educators were writing to the newspapers to say this is going to corrupt the language of the young people," she told the Globe & Mail (Canada's national newspaper) in 1990.

"I didn't let that bother me because I knew that this was not just a regional dialect, it was a language. The majority of people spoke this language; everone knew it. It was called the language of humour, but it is much more than that. People live and die and grieve and feel pain in this language."

Ms. Bennett-Coverley, who has been called the Moter of the Jamaican language, began writing in dialect partly as a rebellion against an educational system that suppressed and denigrated Jamaican culture.

"In those days, the folk songs you sang were British folk songs," she said. "We were taught Scandinavian tap dance and Scottish waltzes!
She recalled the first time she got on stage and sang a Jamaican folk song."The audience was stunned. They couldn't believe it was really happening." She had to coax them into singing along with her. Within a year or two, audiences joined in at the first line.

As her ppopularity grew, so did respect for the language she used in her poetry. Honoured as a member of the British Empire in 1960, she later received the Order of Jamaica and was given an honorary PhD by the University of West Indies and York University in Toronto. She made many appearances at Toronto's International Festival of Authors.

In all, Miss Lou was the author of about a dozen collections of poetry including Anancy and Miss Lou. Read today, humour remains an integral part of her verse. The satire is mild, often gently but lovingly mocking the pretensions and superstitions of her fellow islanders.

In the poem Pass Fi White, a young girl who has been sent to the US flunks out of school much to her mother's chagrin. But the daughter is joyous because she has been accepted as a white woman, a development her mother finds even more worrying: "Some people tink she pass B.A., Some tink she pass D.R. - Wait till dem fine out she ongle Pass de colour bar."

Louise Bennet-Coverley was born in Kingston on Sept. 7, 1919. She died at Scarborough Grace Hospital in Toronto on Wednesday after collapsing at her home. She was 86. She is survived by her son Fabian Coverley of Toronto. She was predeceased by her husband Eric Coverley.
(Reprinted from The Globe&Mail, Friday, July 28, 2006)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jan on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 04:20 pm: Edit Post

A wonderful mother of our beloved country. Reading the article broght back so many fond memories of my childhood growing up in Jamaica and listening to Miss Lou on radio.One of Jamaica's best,rest in peace Miss Lou.God bless.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Audrey Wright, NEW YORK on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 09:49 pm: Edit Post

You were one of my role model growing up in Jamaica,may God have mercy upon your soul.REST IN PEACE.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Arts on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 07:08 am: Edit Post

Her life and work is a tremendous source of inspiration for many of us coming to recognize and being proud of our Jamaican identity. The flame of her spirit lives on. She was a JAMAICAN IDOL of unparallel splendour.

I will be eternally grateful for the rich folklore that she helped many of us to enjoy on radio at a time when tv, newspaper,satelite and cable were considered as luxury.

My God will bless her soul!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Karen UK on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 07:39 pm: Edit Post

A true ambassador of our great island, Earth has lost her, Heaven gains her.
Rest in peace Miss Lou.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glasceta Honeyghan on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 05:33 pm: Edit Post

My Little Tribute To A Great Poet--Miss Lou

THERE COMES A TIME
Glasceta Honeyghan

Do all you can
(For there comes a time of inactivity);
Sing into the wind
And let it carry the sweet harmony
High into the heavens
(For there comes a time for silence);
Drink in the glorious sun
(For there come the days when the storm clouds
are rolling, the lightning flashing,
the rain drops pounding);
Enjoy all that is good and share with love
(For there comes a time when all is gone).
~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8~


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fan on Friday, August 04, 2006 - 05:18 am: Edit Post

A link to the Toronto Star article coverng Miss Lou's funeral.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_T ype1&c=Article&cid=1154641812091&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_ Home