Leonard Cohen leaves behind rich literary legacy with novels and poetry

Queen’s University English professor Robert May says Cohen’s debut collection “Let Us Compare Mythologies” published in 1956 contains some of the work for which the late artist is best known — and many of the poems were written when he was still in his teens.

It wasn’t until the late 1950s and early 1960s that Cohen came under the influence of some of the avant-garde writers in Canada — like the late Montreal-born poet Louis Dudek — and started writing more highly experimental forms of poetry, May noted.

“In his subsequent books of poetry, you begin to see a real expansion of form and content and subject matter. He begins to abandon traditional forms and themes and he begins to embrace a broader range of issues,” May said in a phone interview from Kingston, Ont.

“For example, in ‘Let Us Compare Mythologies,’ there are a lot of love lyrics. And while they’re some of the best known love lyrics that Cohen wrote, when you get into some of his later books of poetry, you begin to see him exploring issues of spirituality, issues of religion, issues of politics.”

After earning acclaim for his 1961 collection “The Spice-Box Of Earth,” Cohen veered into decidedly darker territory with his followup “Flowers for Hitler,” noted McGill University English professor Brian Trehearne, who offers a course exploring Cohen’s literary works and music.

“He starts wanting to write what he thinks of ugly, twisted little poems,” Trehearne said. “There’s definitely this turn towards a more and more experimental style, and it is often a much less audience-pleasing style.”

Around the same time in the mid-’60s, Cohen emerged with “incredibly sweet, beautiful songs” like “Suzanne,” or “So Long Marianne” that became crowd-pleasers, he noted.

“For me, one of the most fascinating things is comparing the works published in print to the works that became great songs and to think about the different Cohens.”

Writer Pico Iyer called Cohen “the rare poet who wrote with the rapt devotion of a monk, and the rare monk who knew how to charm every last part of the world.”

“No one could combine the language of the street with the high elevation of scriptures, and no one could be as funny, in part because he took so much seriously, as the droll, intense, original Zen rabbi who was Leonard,” said Iyer.

“There’ll never be another singer like Leonard Cohen, and there’ll never be another poet who figures out that the best way to make his words last forever is by making them as hummable as that hymn you first heard when young. Thank heavens — or something — that the words will never die.”

Award-winning poet Jan Zwicky said she had great admiration for Cohen’s work, which she saw as being rooted deeply in a philosophical perspective.

“He reflects on human pain and politics and often very brilliantly; but he sees that pain in relation to very broad and deep features of existence,” Zwicky, author of “The Long Walk” said from Quadra Island, B.C. “I would say like all good philosophers Cohen took the long views.”

Zwicky said she was also struck by the evenness in his approach to his work over an extended period.

“From the beginning, right to the end, they’re very spare, resonant works of lyric art.

“I think that’s one of the things in which his greatness as a writer lies: that consistency.”

Cohen died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 82, according to a statement released Thursday by his son Adam.

— Follow @lauren_larose on Twitter.

Lauren La Rose, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated Cohen died Thursday.

by Canadian Press

Leonard Cohen leaves behind rich literary legacy with novels and poetry

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