Life's Grandest Things

Jean Blewett 1862 (Janet McKishnie Scotia, Kent County, Ontario) – 1934 (Chatham)



What is the greatest work of all?
The work that comes every day;
The work that waits us on ev'ry hand
Is work that, for us, is truly grand,
And the love of work is our pay.

What is the highest life of all?
It is living, day by day,
True to ourselves and true to the right,
Living the truth from dawn till the night,
And the love of truth for our pay.

What is the grandest thing of all-
Is it winning Heaven some day?
No, and a thousand times say no;
'Tis making this old world thrill and glow
With the sun of love till each shall know
Something of Heaven here below,
And God's well done for our pay.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
41

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCB ABDDB ABEEEEB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 591
Words 125
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 7

Jean Blewett

Jean McKishnie Blewett (4 November 1862 – 19 August 1934) was a Canadian journalist, author and poet. Blewett was born Janet McKinshie in Scotia, Kent County, Ontario in 1862 to Scottish immigrants (some sources say 1872). She attended St. Thomas Collegiate and in 1879 married Bassett Blewett and published her first novel, Out of the Depths. In 1896, she won a $600 prize from the Chicago Times-Herald for her poem "Spring". Blewett was a regular contributor to The Globe, a Toronto newspaper and in 1898 became editor of its Homemakers Department. In 1919, assisted by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, she published a booklet titled Heart Stories to benefit war charities. During this time she regularly lectured on topics such as temperance and suffragism. She used the pseudonym Katherine Kent for some of her writing. In 1925 Blewett was compelled by ill-health to retire her editorship. For two years she lived with a daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta, before returning to Toronto in 1927. She died in 1934 in Chatham, Ontario. After her death, fellow female journalist Bride Broder wrote in tribute: There is a simplicity about Mrs. Blewett's prose and verse that has made a wide appeal, and her gay-hearted attitude to life, the humorous twists she gave to little things, made her very welcome as a speaker at women's gatherings. In all her writings she touched on the things that appeal to women everywhere and, in doing so, won the admiration of men readers also. Her brother, Archie P. McKishnie, was also a noted writer.  more…

All Jean Blewett poems | Jean Blewett Books

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