Canadian poet and academic
Frank Oliver Call (April 11, 1878 – September 7, 1956)[1] was a Canadian poet and academic.
Born in Brome Lake, Quebec,[2] 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.[2]
His publications as a poet included In a Belgian Garden (1916), Acanthus and Wild Grape (1920), Blue Homespun (1924) and Sonnets for Youth (1944).[2] 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.[2] 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.[2] More recent analysis has also concentrated on homoerotic themes in some of his writing, particularly in Sonnets for Youth,[3] although there is not currently sufficient biographical evidence to confirm whether Call ever actually identified as gay.[3]
In addition to writing poetry, Call published two volumes of travel writing, The Spell of French Canada (1926) and The Spell of Acadia (1930),[2] and a biography of Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Call won the Quebec Literary Competition Award in 1924 for Blue Homespun.[2] In addition, he was involved in Canadian Poetry Magazine, the Canadian Authors Association and PEN Canada.[2]
He died at Knowlton, Quebec, in 1956.[2]
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