[3] "She was small and slight, with a round pale face, huge blue eyes usually rimmed in kohl (Type of eyeliner and cosmetic), and long dark straight hair.

[citation needed] With her second husband, Greek musician Niko Tsingos, MacEwen opened a Toronto coffeehouse, The Trojan Horse, in 1972.

[10] "A sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," says The Canadian Encyclopedia, MacEwen "displayed a commanding interest in magic and history as well as an elaborate and penetrating dexterity in her versecraft.

[4] Fictional tributes to MacEwen have been published by Margaret Atwood (the short story "Isis in Darkness"), and Lorne S. Jones (the novel Mighty Oaks).

As a result, one of the highlights of the 1978-79 season of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra included the world premiere of Van Dijk's The Shadow-Maker under the direction of Mario Bernardi and featuring Canadian baritone Victor Braun.

The biographer of MacEwan, Rosemary Sullivan, quotes the composer Van Dijk in her book: "What attracted me to the poetry was the substance behind the subject matter - namely the dream.

MacEwan has something in common with Strindberg and D.H. Lawrence, as an explorer of these dark corners of the soul that most of us shut out conveniently, in order to create a safe but illusory reality."

As Dutch musicologist Maarten Brandt wrote, "The bold and expressionistic side of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg is found in van Dijk’s setting of Gwendolyn MacEwan's The Shadow-Maker for baritone and large orchestra, written in 1977.

Yet, as in every single composition by van Dijk, tonal references are present here as well, demonstrating a kinship not only with Alban Berg, but also with Benjamin Britten, Hans Werner Henze, Michael Tippett and Frank Martin; all of them composers who have not simply exploited the resources available to them, but rather were grateful ‘inhabitants’ of a rich and saturated musical landscape."

[17] Media related to Gwendolyn MacEwen Park at Wikimedia Commons Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy of Brock University.