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D.G. Jones (1929- )
Douglas Gordon Jones was born in Bancroft, Ontario and educated at a private school
in Quebec's Eastern Townships, at McGill University and Queen's University.
He then taught English literature at Bishop's University and the Université
de Sherbrooke. He founded Ellipse in 1969, which continues to be
the only literary periodical in Canada which provides reciprocal translations,
in equal measure, of both English and French Canadian poetry. His first
book of poetry, Frost on the sun (1957), was published by Contact
Press. Subsequently he published The sun is axeman (1961), Phrases
from Orpheus (1967), Under the thunder the flowers light up the earth
(1977) [the first Coach House Press book to be recognized as worthy of the
Governor General's Award], and A throw of particles: new and selected poetry.
Considered by many to be one of the seminal figures of the mythopoeic strain of
Canadian poetry, such myths never truly departed from the poet's vision, but they
have changed their forms. The gods come in other guises, often as painters, as two
of Under the thunder's five sections are devoted to poems inspired by
David Milne and Alex Colville. His seminal
work of critical writing is Butterfly on rock: a study of themes and
images in Canadian literature.
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