Al Purdy: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Alfred Wellington Purdy
Born	December 30, 1918 • Canada
Died	April 21, 2000 (aged 81) • Canada
Notable Works	“Being Alive” • “Piling Blood” • “To Paris Never Again”

default image

John Glassco

Canadian author

Margaret Atwood smiling at the camera, wearing a red scarf with butterfly patterns and a black top, in front of an orange background with inspirational words.

Margaret Atwood

Canadian author

Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje

Canadian writer

default image

Sue Goyette

Canadian poet and novelist

Anne Carson

Anne Carson

Canadian poet

default image

Anne Michaels

Canadian poet and novelist

default image

Susan Musgrave

American-born author

default image

Timothy Findley

Canadian author

Isabella Valancy Crawford, lithograph

Isabella Valancy Crawford

Canadian poet

default image

Morley Callaghan

Canadian author

default image

Earle Birney

Canadian writer and educator

default image

James Crerar Reaney

Canadian writer

default image

Patrick Anderson

Canadian poet

default image

Dorothy Livesay

Canadian poet

William Kirby.

William Kirby

Canadian writer

Robert W. Service

Robert W. Service

Canadian writer

Graham Greene, 1982

Graham Greene

British author

Colm Toibin stands in a narrow cobblestone alleyway in Mantova, Italy, wearing a gray jacket and black shirt with his hands in his pockets.

Colm Tóibín

Irish author

default image

Leslie Marmon Silko

American author

Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage

British poet, playwright, and novelist

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:

Poetry: First Lines

4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul

Famous Poets and Poetic Form

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

A Study of Poetry