Edward Dickinson Blodgett (26 February 1935 – 15 November 2018) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

poet, literary critic, and translator who won the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for poetry in 1996 for his collection ''Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano'' (BuschekBooks).

Biography

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and educated at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, E. D. Blodgett emigrated to Canada in 1966 to work as a literature professor at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

. With his book, ''Configuration'' (1982) and other articles Blodgett became instrumental in promoting Comparative Canadian Literature and extending the binary model (English-French) of the Sherbrooke School of Comparative Canadian Literature begun by Ronald Sutherland with ''Second Image: Comparative Studies in Quebec/Canadian Literature'' (1971). Because of his knowledge of different languages and literatures Blodgett was able to be more inclusive in his study of Canadian authors from different backgrounds beyond the English and the French. This pluralistic approach is evident in his ''Five-Part Invention'' (2003) which deals with many ethnic minority writers in Canada. In 2015, Blodgett published translations of the Persian poet Rumi, ''Speak Only of the Moon: A New Translation of Rumi,'' edited with Manijeh Mannani. In 1996, Blodgett won the Governor-General's Award in Poetry for ''Apostrophes: woman at a piano'' (1996). In 1999, Blodgett along with

Jacques Brault Jacques Brault (29 March 1933 – 20 October 2022) was a French Canadian poet and translator who lived in Cowansville, Quebec, Canada. He was born to a poor family, but received an excellent education at the Université de Montréal and at the ...

won the Governor-General's Award for Translation for ''Transfiguration'' (1998), a translation of Blodgett's poetry. On July 1, 2007, E.D. Blodgett was appointed the post of Poet Laureate for the City of

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Blodgett moved to

South Surrey South Surrey is a community within the City of Surrey, British Columbia, located on the Semiahmoo peninsula in the southern portion of the City of Surrey, sharing a border with the City of White Rock. Neighbourhoods of South Surrey include Cresc ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

where he remained until his death in 2018.

Poetry

*''Take away the names'' (1975) *''Sounding'' (1977) *''Beast Gate'' (1980) *''Arché/Elegies'' (1983) *''Musical Offering'' (1986) *''Da Capo'' (1990) *''Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano'' (1996) *''Apostrophes II: through you I'' (1998) *''Transfiguration'' (1998) translation by Jacques Brault *''Apostrophes III: Alone Upon the Earth'' (1999) *''Apostrophes IV: speaking you is holiness'' (2000) *''Ark of Koans'' (2003) *''Apostrophes V: never born except within the other'' (2003) *''Apostrophes VI: open the grass'' (2004) *''Elegy'' (2005) *''In the heart of the wood'' (2005) *''Practices of eternity'' (2005) *''A Pirouette and Gone'' (2006) *''The Invisible Poem'' (2008) *''Poems for a Small Park'' (2008) *''Praha'' (2011) *''Apostrophes VII: Sleep, You, a Tree'' (2011) *''as if'' (2014) *''Songs for Dead Children'' (2018) *''Apostrophes VIII: Nothing Is But You and I'' (2019) *''Walking Into God'' (2024)

Literary Criticism and Translations

* ''Configuration. Essays in the Canadian Literatures'' (1982) * ''D. G. Jones and his Works'' (1984) * ''The Love Songs of the Carmina Burana'' (1987) with Roy Arthur Swanson * ''Alice Munro'' (1988) * ''Romance of Flamenca'' (1995) * ''Five Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada'' (2005)

References

External links

* 1935 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 21st-century Canadian poets Governor General's Award–winning poets 20th-century Canadian translators 21st-century Canadian translators 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Municipal poets laureate in Canada {{Canada-poet-stub