| The Edge of Home |
| Milton Acorn from the Island |
| Selected and with an introduction by Anne Compton |
Widely acknowledged to be Prince Edward Island's greatest
poet, Milton Acorn was born in Charlottetown in 1923 and died
there in 1986. He was a significant contributor to the Canadian
literary scene of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and friends with such
literary notables as Al Purdy, Eli Mandel, Leonard Cohen, Irving
Layton and Patrick Lane. The original "People's Poet," Acorn
received a medal and cash prize from his peers at Toronto's
Grossman's Tavern in 1970 when his selected poems, I've Tasted
My Blood, failed to win the Governor General's Award. He went
on to receive Canada's highest literary honour for The Island
Means Minago, published in 1975.
Acorn was the author of ten books of poetry, and, with Cedric
Smith, he co-authored the play, The Road to Charlottetown.
Although he lived in various Canadian cities during his lifetime,
Acorn's finely tuned homing instincts always brought him back to
"The Island."
Now Anne Compton, brings us a collection of Acorn's poems
written about, or rooted in, his home province of Prince Edward
Island. Selected from his books published between 1956 and
1983, the 62 poems range in topic from nature and landscape to
Island people and politics. In her Preface, she writes, "Although
he moved away in 1951, Acorn never 'left' the Island, and he
returned permanently in 1981 to live out his last years on the
'wave-lined edge of home' and to contemplate anew the sea, the
wind, and the horizon that appear in so much of his work . . . . like
the character 'Callum', in the poem of that title, Acorn was 'from
the Island', a fact he pronounced proudly, and although he lived
most of his adult years 'away', he carried the Island landscape
with him, within him, carried it 'from the Island'."
Her critical essay entitled "The Ecological Poetics of Milton
Acorn" takes this idea further, showing how Acorn's "Island"
infuses many of his finest poems, "Even when he was a continent
away from the Island . . . even when politics capsized the poetry. .
. he was never away. He carried within him the slap of sea on
shore: 'My lifepulse moves in waves to hit rocks, / Ebb back,
replenish, come back for more shocks' (Jackpine Sonnets)."
poet, Milton Acorn was born in Charlottetown in 1923 and died
there in 1986. He was a significant contributor to the Canadian
literary scene of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and friends with such
literary notables as Al Purdy, Eli Mandel, Leonard Cohen, Irving
Layton and Patrick Lane. The original "People's Poet," Acorn
received a medal and cash prize from his peers at Toronto's
Grossman's Tavern in 1970 when his selected poems, I've Tasted
My Blood, failed to win the Governor General's Award. He went
on to receive Canada's highest literary honour for The Island
Means Minago, published in 1975.
Acorn was the author of ten books of poetry, and, with Cedric
Smith, he co-authored the play, The Road to Charlottetown.
Although he lived in various Canadian cities during his lifetime,
Acorn's finely tuned homing instincts always brought him back to
"The Island."
Now Anne Compton, brings us a collection of Acorn's poems
written about, or rooted in, his home province of Prince Edward
Island. Selected from his books published between 1956 and
1983, the 62 poems range in topic from nature and landscape to
Island people and politics. In her Preface, she writes, "Although
he moved away in 1951, Acorn never 'left' the Island, and he
returned permanently in 1981 to live out his last years on the
'wave-lined edge of home' and to contemplate anew the sea, the
wind, and the horizon that appear in so much of his work . . . . like
the character 'Callum', in the poem of that title, Acorn was 'from
the Island', a fact he pronounced proudly, and although he lived
most of his adult years 'away', he carried the Island landscape
with him, within him, carried it 'from the Island'."
Her critical essay entitled "The Ecological Poetics of Milton
Acorn" takes this idea further, showing how Acorn's "Island"
infuses many of his finest poems, "Even when he was a continent
away from the Island . . . even when politics capsized the poetry. .
. he was never away. He carried within him the slap of sea on
shore: 'My lifepulse moves in waves to hit rocks, / Ebb back,
replenish, come back for more shocks' (Jackpine Sonnets)."
|
| Since I'm Island-born home's as precise as if a mumbly old carpenter, shoulder-straps crossed wrong, laid it out, refigured to the last three-eighths of shingle. Nowhere . . . is there a spot not measured by hands; no direction I couldn't walk to the wave-lined edge of home. Milton Acorn, From "The Island" |
| About the Editor . . . Dr. Anne Compton, poet, critic, and anthologist, was born and raised on Prince Edward Island. She teaches literature and creative writing at the University of New Brunswick at Saint John. The author of A.J.M. Smith: Canadian Metaphysical (1994) and numerous critical essays, her books include a collection of poetry, Opening the Island (2002), and an edition of Milton Acorn's poetry, The Edge of Home (2002). She presently resides in New Brunswick. |
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