Home · Arts & Entertainment · Poetry · Al Purdy, An Uncommon Poet
Topic spans: 1967 - 2004
Al Purdy, An Uncommon Poet
During the first forty-odd years of his life, Al Purdy wrote a lot of bad poetry. Where others would have quit, Purdy persevered until he found his own distinctive voice. And what he said startled people. His unconventional works poeticized barroom brawls, hockey players and homemade beer. Al Purdy's work forced Canadians to re-evaluate their understanding of poetry and themselves. CBC Archives looks back on the long career of one of Canada's most beloved poets.
Photograph courtesy of D'Arcy Glionna.
4 television clips
9 radio clips
Those horrible beautiful trees
Broadcast Date: Feb. 13, 1971
Using his earnings from penning CBC Radio plays, Al Purdy constructs an A-frame log cabin at Roblin Lake in eastern Ontario. For Purdy, the isolation is crushing and the rural postal system is his sole lifeline. "Trapped, abandoned, marooned," he describes in the poem One Rural Winter. Purdy remarks that he is surrounded only by beautiful trees. "And I hate beautiful trees," he continues. In poems collected in his award-winning Cariboo Horses, Purdy details his begrudging affection for his country. He reads from his works in this CBC Radio feature.Those horrible beautiful trees
• Purdy was a keen letter-writer and corresponded with writers, fans and his personal heroes over the course of his life. A selection of these letters was published in 2004 in Yours, Al: The Collected Letters of Al Purdy.• In one exchange between Purdy and Canadian writer Margaret Laurence, Laurence praised Purdy's cynical perspective. "It wasn't exactly one rural winter — more one rural spring — when I sat beside my beech-log fire, surrounded by nothing but beautiful trees, reading your poem and thinking at that moment with both amusement and rage that I also hated beautiful trees," she wrote in her first letter to Purdy on Jan. 16, 1967. Purdy's correspondence with Laurence was published in 1993, Margaret Laurence-Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters.
• Purdy built his house at Roblin Lake with the help of fellow Canadian poet Milton Acorn. Acorn, often celebrated as the "people's poet," is best known for his works I've Tasted Blood and The Island Means Minago.
• Purdy's poem House Guest chronicled their experiences building the Roblin Lake home. He wrote, "Every morning I'd get up and say 'Look at the nails/ you snored them out half an inch in the night – ' / He'd believe me and get mad and glare".
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13 clips in this topic . page
Radio
5:35
Feb. 4, 1958
On his 75th birthday, famed narrative poet E.J. Pratt chuckles at being called Canada's leading poet.
Television
2:26
In 2009, a young hip-hop star becomes the poet laureate for the City of Edmonton.
Topic from Radio-Canada
For Teachers - Educational activities
- All GradesOne Idea About Al Purdy
- 11-12Language in Poetry
- 9-10Writing Poetry
- 11-12Al Purdy's Place in Canadian Literature
Those horrible beautiful trees.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 7, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 9, 2010.]