Period 1910s-1940s Role Poet | Nationality Canadian Name Frank Call Died September 7, 1956 | |
Notable works Acanthus and Wild Grape, Sonnets for Youth, Blue Homespun Books Acanthus and Wild Grape, Sonnets for Youth | ||
Frank Oliver Call (April 11, 1878 - September 7, 1956) was a Canadian poet and academic.
Born in West Brome, Quebec, Call was educated at Bishop's University, in Paris and Marburg and at McGill University, and was subsequently a professor of languages at Bishop's and McGill.
His publications as a poet included In a Belgian Garden (1916), Acanthus and Wild Grape (1920), Blue Homespun (1924) and Sonnets for Youth (1944). Acanthus and Wild Grape, his most famous work, was divided in two sections: Acanthus followed more traditional Victorian poetic styles, while Wild Grape was written as free verse. As a result of that work, Call is seen as a bridge between early Canadian poets such as Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman and Duncan Campbell Scott, and the modernist work of later poets such as E.J. Pratt and Dorothy Livesay. More recent analysis has also concentrated on homoerotic themes in some of his writing, particularly in Sonnets for Youth, although there is not currently sufficient biographical evidence to confirm whether Call ever actually identified as gay.
In addition to writing poetry, Call published two volumes of travel writing, The Spell of French Canada (1926) and The Spell of Acadia (1930), and a biography of Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Call won the Quebec Literary Competition Award in 1924 for Blue Homespun. In addition, he was involved in Canadian Poetry Magazine, the Canadian Authors Association and PEN Canada.
He died at Knowlton, Quebec in 1956.