[3] Avison worked as a librarian, was a social worker at the Presbyterian Church Mission in Toronto, and taught at Scarborough College.
)[5] In 1956 Avison received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant;[3] she spent eight months in the United States and was able to attend classes at the universities of Chicago and Indiana.
"[9] The Encyclopædia Britannica describes her as a "Canadian poet who revealed the progress of an interior spiritual journey in her three successive volumes of poetry," referring to her first three books, Winter Sun, The Dumbfounding, and sunblue.
[2] With Winter Sun, "Avison established herself as a difficult and introspective poet given to private images and subtle shadings of emotion that challenge and frustrate the reader" (says The Canadian Encyclopedia).
"[1] "In this volume the poet's subject matter varies from environmental destruction and the plight of the poor to metaphysical ponderings and playful explorations of language.
"[7] "One of Avison's principal concerns in Winter Sun is perception, and she consistently emphasizes looking at the familiar in new and thought-provoking ways.
Ernest H. Redekop has argued that 'there is a profound sense in Avison's poems that the world must not be forced into ordinary limits of sight and articulation.'
"[12] The Dumbfounding was "a more accessible record of spiritual discovery, and a more revealing account of the unmasked, narrative 'I.
"[12] "This was further developed in sunblue (1978), a combination of social concern and moral values fused by religious conviction and a continuing restatement of personal faith.
In conjunction with their Christian themes, Avison's poems often celebrate the creative power of the imagination as well as examining the concept of paradoxes and depicting people and landscapes from conflicting viewpoints.
Her work has been characterized as 'intellectual'" and 'deliberate'; her use of word-play, disconcerting shifts in viewpoint, complex metaphors, and literary allusions make her poetry a challenge to read.
"[9] "Reviewers have praised the poet for using complex language not as an end in itself, but to accurately convey her subject matter: the love and power of God."
[3] The fonds consist of textual records, photographs, audio-cassettes, compact discs, computer- diskettes, and CD-ROMs.
Textual materials include, but are not limited to, unpublished poetry, correspondence, theses, essays, and poems.