The Culture of Poetics and the Poetics of Culture of Marshall McLuhan – Toronto and Canada, Text and Context

Abstract

This article discusses Marshall McLuhan’s idea of Canada and his work on poetry, poetics, humanities, and related subjects. McLuhan’s sense of poetry, poetics, technology, culture, and nature depends in part upon his view of Canada. He sees the connections between the United States and Canada while also admitting some distinctions. Britain, France, Canada, and the United States are interrelated in the forging of boundaries and identities. The article assumes that McLuhan’s contribution to the long-time debate on Canadian identity is thoughtful, poetic, far-reaching, and deserving of detailed attention. The figure of the artist is important for McLuhan, who says that the electric age should be the opposite of surface and requires more thought and work. Discussing poetry, McLuhan examines Ezra Pound, who wrote notes to T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. McLuhan provides notes or glosses to his own work in his poetic vision in The Gutenberg Galaxy, and his culture of poetics and poetics of culture were of Toronto, the University of Toronto, Canada, North America, and beyond. For McLuhan, the electric age gives Canada – a borderline case – advantages and provides new ways of thinking.