Ideas for poetry

by Louis Dudek

85 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Louis Dudek was one of Canada’s most important and influential cultural workers. After gaining his PhD from Columbia University, Dudek in 1951 returned from New York to Montreal, the city of his birth, to take up a position as professor of English at McGill. Dudek’s return to Canada marked the beginning of his efforts to revolutionize the Montreal poetry scene through little magazines and small-press publishing, providing alternatives to commercial presses and opportunities for talented young poets. In 1956 he started The McGill Poetry Series, which gave a start to several young poets, including Leonard Cohen. The author of numerous books of poetry, Louis Dudek died in 2001.

Reviews

[Margaret Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume of reflections by Louis Dudek-a remarkable mid-20th C Montreal poet who also taught English lit at McGill for 30 years-speaks to the early modernist movement. That movement's movers and shakers-Ezra Pound, WC Williams-were poets with whom Dudek, in his brief American sojourn, rubbed shoulders. Dudek also mingled with and mentored Canadian poets such as Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, Frank Scott. I liked this book for its historical perspective not only on poetry but also on the Montreal scene. An interesting read!