Canadian poet Phyllis Webb, "who filled collections like The Vision Tree: Selected Poems and Wilson's Bowl with poignant insights on the human condition," died November 11, CBC Books reported. She was 94. Her publisher, Talonbooks, said that in the days before her death, Webb had quoted the last words of one of her favorite poets, Gerald Manley Hopkins: "I am happy, so happy."
The Canadian West Coast was influential on her life and work. "We all need to express something about our roots, I think, where we came from," she said in a 1983 CBC interview. "The sea and the surroundings of the West Coast are so implanted in me. I don't feel terribly comfortable anymore elsewhere."
Webb's writing career began in 1954, with the publication of the poetry collection Trio: First Poems, which also included work by Scottish poet Gael Turnbull and Canadian poet Eli Mandel. She would go on to publish nearly 20 collections between 1954 and 1999. Her 1982 collection, The Vision Tree, won the Governor General's Literary Prize for poetry. An anthology of her work, Peacock Blue: The Collected Poems of Phyllis Webb, was edited by John F. Hulcoop and published in 1994.
Webb worked for the CBC at the beginning of her career, as a freelancer and radio producer. She co-founded the CBC Radio program Ideas, alongside William A. Young, and was the executive producer from 1967-1969. After completing her CBC tenure, she taught poetry and creative writing at University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
She was named to the Order of Canada in 1992 and received the BC Gas Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.