Al Purdy

Al Purdy – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Al Purdy (1918–2000), often called Canada’s “unofficial poet laureate,” wrote with a raw, colloquial voice rooted in Canadian landscapes and lives. Read his full biography, major works, famous quotes, and enduring legacy.

Introduction

Alfred Wellington Purdy—better known as Al Purdy—stands among the most beloved and influential poets in Canadian literary history. Born December 30, 1918, and passing April 21, 2000, Purdy’s fifty-six-year writing career produced dozens of books of poetry, memoirs, letters, and prose.

What makes Purdy so memorable is his unmistakable voice: a rugged, unpretentious, colloquial style that speaks to ordinary people, places, and histories. Over his life he came to be described as English Canada’s “unofficial poet laureate” and “a national poet in a way that you only find occasionally in the life of a culture.”

In this article, we examine his life, his poetic journey, his major themes and works, and his lasting influence. We also collect some of his memorable quotes and explore what lessons his life and work can offer today.

Early Life and Family

Al Purdy was born on December 30, 1918, in Wooler, Ontario, Canada.

After his father’s death, the family moved to Trenton, Ontario, where Purdy grew up.

Because of economic hardship during the Great Depression and other pressures, Purdy dropped out of formal schooling sometime after the 10th grade.

His early life was marked by modest means and a deep connection to rural and small-town Ontario—settings and sensibilities that would later reappear in much of his poetry.

Youth and Education

Even though Purdy left formal schooling early, he was self-educated in many ways. He read voraciously, absorbed literary traditions, and developed a strong inner sense of voice and intuition about poetry.

As a young man, Purdy struck out on his own. He “rode the rails” to Vancouver, working as an itinerant laborer. World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

These early travels, periods of hardship, and shifting landscapes would become formative influences in his later poetry: the sense of movement, the frontier, and the tension between rootedness and wandering.

Career and Achievements

Early Writing & Apprenticeship

Purdy’s first book was The Enchanted Echo (1944), though he later described it as “atrocious.” Pressed on Sand (1955), Emu, Remember! (1956)—were more conventionally lyrical and less distinctive.

It was gradually, through experimentation and engagement with Canadian life, that he arrived at a more vital voice. In The Crafte So Longe to Lerne (1959), for instance, the shift toward freer, more colloquial diction becomes evident.

Breakthrough and Major Collections

Purdy’s breakthrough came in 1965 with The Cariboo Horses, which won the Governor General’s Award—one of Canada’s highest literary honors.

Over subsequent decades, he published many major collections:

• Poems for All the Annettes (1962)

• North of Summer: Poems from Baffin Island (1967)

• Wild Grape Wine (1968)

• Hiroshima Poems (1972)

• Being Alive (1978)

• Birdwatching at the Equator (1982)

• Piling Blood (1984)

• The Woman on the Shore (1990)

• To Paris Never Again (1997)

• Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy (posthumous, 2000)

His Collected Poems of Al Purdy, 1956–1986 (1986) also won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry—the second time he was so honored.

In addition to poetry, Purdy wrote:

• A novel: A Splinter in the Heart (1990)

• Memoirs, especially Reaching for the Beaufort Sea (1993)

• Collections of essays, correspondence (e.g. Margaret Laurence — Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters)

• Prose anthologies such as Starting from Ameliasburgh (collected prose)

He also served as writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities and actively nurtured younger writers.

Awards, Honors, and Recognition

Purdy’s accolades include:

• Governor General’s Award for Poetry, 1965 (for The Cariboo Horses)

• Governor General’s Award again in 1986 (for Collected Poems)

• Order of Canada (appointed an Officer) in 1982/83 (dates sometimes vary in sources)

• Order of Ontario, 1987

A campaign continues to preserve his A-frame cottage in Ameliasburgh (Ontario) as a writers’ retreat and cultural heritage site.

In 2008, a bronze statue of Purdy was unveiled in Queen’s Park, downtown Toronto.

Many have called Purdy “The Voice of the Land” for his rootedness in Canadian places and people.

Historical Milestones & Context

The Rise of a National Voice

Purdy’s career spanned much of the 20th century, a period during which Canadian literature was attempting to define a distinct identity separate from British and American models. Purdy contributed significantly to that effort: he embraced vernacular speech, local settings, and a spirit of cultural independence.

He was grouped with other self-taught or working-class Canadian poets—Milton Acorn, Alden Nowlan, Patrick Lane—poets whose roots were outside elite academic circles.

Travel, Place, and Canadian Landscapes

Purdy was a restless traveler. His poetry often records journeys across Canada — the Arctic, British Columbia, Ontario — and abroad. His North of Summer (1967) stemmed from trips to the Arctic, and Hiroshima Poems from travels to Japan.

His poems frequently meditate on place — not as static backdrops, but as living forces that shape human life, memory, and identity.

Oral Tradition, Public Readings, and the Poet as Community Figure

Purdy was an active performer of his poems. He participated in readings and public gatherings, connecting directly with communities.

In the 1950s, he and his wife built an A-frame cottage on Roblin Lake, Ameliasburgh, Ontario. That house became a gathering point for poets and writers, and today hosts a writers’ residency program.

Later Life, Illness, and Passing

In his later years, Purdy divided his time between British Columbia and his Ontario cottage.

He battled health issues toward the end of his life. It is documented that Canadian advocate John Hofsess contributed to Purdy’s assisted suicide when he was terminally ill — a controversial aspect of his final days.

Purdy died April 21, 2000, in Sidney, British Columbia (or North Saanich) at the age of 81. Voice of the Land.

Legacy and Influence

Al Purdy’s legacy is rich, multifaceted, and enduring.

Shaping Canadian Poetic Identity

His embrace of colloquial diction, regional imagery, and a grounded sensibility made him a model for Canadian writers seeking to express themselves rather than emulate others. He helped shift Canadian poetry away from imported aesthetic norms toward something native and direct.

He mentored and paved space for younger poets. His A-frame cottage continues to host residencies, preserving a living connection to his spirit.

Cultural Recognition and Preservation

The Al Purdy A-Frame Association works to maintain his former home and promote his legacy.

His statue in Toronto, the continued publication and study of his work, and his status in Canadian literary anthologies all testify to his cultural weight.

Critical Debates and Reassessments

While widely beloved, Purdy was not without critics. Some considered his masculinity or occasional crudeness problematic. Others questioned whether his colloquial style lacked refinement.

Yet, his strengths—honesty, heart, a sense of the land—have kept his reputation resilient. His work remains studied in Canada and beyond.

Personality and Talents

Purdy was known as a generous, sometimes “ornery,” but deeply committed poet and friend.

His gifts included:

• Voice & Tone: He could be conversational, colloquial, rough-hewn—but also lyrical, reflective, funny, sad.

• Observation: He had a sharp eye for small detail, for landscape, for human humor and struggle.

• Generosity toward others: He edited anthologies, hosted writers, wrote letters, encouraged younger poets.

• Versatility: While poetry was his core form, he also wrote prose, correspondence, memoir, essays, and a novel.

He saw writing as deeply embedded in life: the land, memory, the body, and the everyday.

Famous Quotes of Al Purdy

Here are several memorable quotations attributed to Al Purdy:

“For me, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, or for flowers or beast or bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly and perfectly alive.”

“I’m not religious in any formal sense, not in any God sense.”

“Things were so bad we ate rabbits that neighbours had run over and gave to us because they knew we were broke.”

“‘A collected poems’ is either a gravestone or a testimonial to survival.”

“At a certain age you're always uncertain how other people will take you.”

“We came out of the old community but the new community did not receive us equally.” (from a quote referenced via Bookey)

These quotes reflect Purdy’s honesty, his sense of survival, his struggle with reputation, and his deep engagement with life in all its messiness.

Lessons from Al Purdy

From Purdy’s life and work we can draw lessons that resonate beyond poetry:

1. Authenticity over polish
   Purdy didn’t aim to imitate literary fashions. He cultivated his authentic voice—even when it risked sounding rough, idiosyncratic, or unpolished.

2. Rootedness + movement
   He balanced love of place with restlessness. His poems show that one may dwell in a landscape deeply while still wandering.

3. Perseverance through hardship
   Dropping out of school, doing odd jobs, facing illness—he persisted in writing. His productivity over decades is a testament to dedication.

4. Community and generosity
   He supported other writers, created spaces for dialogue, and welcomed company in his A-frame cottage. Creativity, for him, was communal as well as solitary.

5. Embrace contradiction and struggle
   His voice often holds tension—between hope and despair, place and distance, the personal and the national.

6. Life as material
   Purdy drew on lived experience—land, labor, memory—as the raw material for art. His poetry is anchored in what it is to live, rather than abstract theory.

Conclusion

Al Purdy remains a central figure in Canadian letters. His life—from a rural Ontario childhood to a self-made, national poetic voice—illustrates how a writer can give language to landscape, to marginal lives, and to authenticity itself.

His poems continue to be read, anthologized, and loved for their directness, emotional sincerity, and deep sense of place. His A-frame cottage now stands as both memorial and active site of literary creation—keeping alive his spirit of community, generosity, and love for the land.

If you’d like, I can also share full-length poems of Purdy, audio recordings, or deeper analysis of particular works (e.g. The Cariboo Horses, Being Alive)—would you like me to send you some?