English 2060E Lecture Notes - Al Purdy, Irving Layton, Frank Davey
Document Summary
We begin this course with al purdy because he is one of canada"s best-known poets and one who has been embraced as the voice of canada by many critics. His poetry is conversational, colloquial, down to earth and accessible. Tales from the days of his time as writer in residence at uwo abound about purdy"s flowers, the beer bottles that appeared in spring outside his office window once the snow melted. These tales also focus on the larger-than-life poet who grew up in small town ontario, who left at the age of seventeen to see the country. This mobility enabled purdy to choose subject from various geographical locales and to be claimed as the voice of canada and not just ontario. As a working class poet, purdy appears to have something both new and authentically real to offer his readers, a dismissive attitude for pretension and a talent for narrative.
