Biography

Poet, academic, editor and arts organizer, Anne Compton was born on Prince Edward Island in 1947 and has spent much of her life there. This fact shows in much of her work, both poetic and academic. In particular, her first collection of poetry, Opening the Island (2002), confirms that Prince Edward Island holds an important influence over her. Winner of the Atlantic Poetry Prize in 2003 and nominee for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Opening the Island devotes its first and last sections to exploring the nuances of Island life. Though this was her first book of poetry, she published her poetry widely in Canadian journals during the 1990s. Additionally, much of her time in the 1990s was spent pursuing a successful career as an academic. Compton has published articles on 19th and 20th-century aesthetics, 17th-century metaphysical poetry, Canadian literature and Maritime literature. In 1994 she published A.J.M. Smith: Canadian Metaphysical, a critical study of this major Canadian poet’s work. Serving in the capacity of anthologist and editor, Compton co-edited Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada (2002) and edited The Edge of Home: Milton Acorn from the Island. Compton became the second Islander, after Milton Acorn in 1976, to win the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, for her collection Processional (2005). Compton taught English in the Department of Humanities and Languages at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. She has served as the organizer of the acclaimed Lorenzo Reading Series and as a member of the New Brunswick Arts Board. Her collection of poems Alongside was published in 2013.

Bibliography

Books
  • A. J. M. Smith: Canadian metaphysical. Toronto: ECW Press, 1994.
  • ed. Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2002.
  • ed. The Edge of Home: Milton Acorn from the Island. Charlottetown: Island Studies Press,      Institute of Island Studies, 2002.
  • Opening the Island. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002.
  • Processional. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005.
  • Meetings with Maritime Poets. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006.
  • Asking Questions Indoors and Out. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2009.
  • Alongside. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013.
Scholarly Articles
  • "'After the Ebb-Flow': A. J. M. Smith's Nature Poetry." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 14.1 (1989): 54-72.
  • "Patterns for Poetry: Poetics in Seven Poems by A. J. M. Smith." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews 28 (1991): 1-17.
  • "'As if I Really Mattered': The Narrator of Sinclair Ross's as for Me and My House." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 17.1 (1992): 62-77.
  • "The Poet-Impressionist: Some Landscapes by Archibald Lampman." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews  34 (1994): 33-56.
  • "W. W. E. Ross's Imagism and the Poetics of the Early Twentieth Century." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents,Reviews 39 (1996): 49-79.
  • "A 'Little World' in Decadence: Marjorie Pickthall's Poems on Nature and on Religion." Canadian Poetry: Studies,Documents, Reviews 43 (1998): 10-43.
  • "Romancing the Landscape: Jane Urquhart's Fiction." Literature of Region and Nation: Proceedings of the 6th International Literature of Region and Nation Conference, 2-7 August 1996. Ed. Winnifred M. Bogaards. Saint John, NB: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, with University of New Brunswick in Saint John, xxiv, 443 +      vii, 1998.
  • "Standing Your Ground: George Elliott Clarke in Conversation." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 23.2 (1998): 138-64.
  • "Poetry, Photography, Painting: Stephanie Bolster's World." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 24.2 (1999): 186-97.
  • "Ascension: Liliane Welch Talks about Poetry." Canadian Literature 166 (2000): 127-41.
  • "Doubly-Crossing Syllables: Thomas o'Grady on Poetry, Exile, and Ireland." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 26.1 (2001): 145-71.
  • "Physics and Poetry: The Complex World of Alan R. Wilson." Canadian Literature 170-171 (2001): 91-107.
  • "'A Many-Veined Leaf': Minutiae and Multiplicity in Brian Bartlett's Poetry." Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 28.2 (2003): 131-51.
  • "The Theatre of the Body: Extreme States in Elisabeth Harvor's Poetry." Canadian Literature 183 (2004): 13-27.
  • "Romancing the Landscape: Jane Urquhart's Fiction." Jane Urquhart: Essays on Her Works. Ed. Laura Ferri. Toronto: Guernica, 2005. 115-143.
Selected Overviews
Opening the Island
Processional

Click on selected overview to read...

Critical Sources

  • Campbell, Wanda. "'Every Sea-Surrounded Hour': The Margin in Maritime Poetry." Studies in Canadian Literature 33.2 (2008): 151-70.
  • “Postmodern Ekphrasis in the Poetry of Anne Compton, Anne Carson, and Anne Simpson.” Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews 65 (2010): 9-21.
  • Donaldson, Jeffery. "Strolls with Anne Compton's Processional." Antigonish Review 15 (2008): 125-34.
  • Hickey, David. "The Longevity of Love." Rev. of Processional, by Anne Compton. Books in Canada 35.1 (2006): 29-30. [LINK]
  • L'Abbé, Sonnet. "Reviewed: Opening the Island by Anne Compton." Canadian Literature 176 (2003): 137-39. [LINK]
  • Langille, Carole. "Review: Opening the Island by Anne Compton." The Antigonish Review 135 (2003): 121. [LINK]
  • MacLaine, Brent. "The Poet in the Landscape is Made by the Landscape." Rev. of Opening the Island, by Anne Compton. Essays on Canadian Writing 79 (Spring 2003): 83-93.
  • MacLeod, Sue. "At the Edge of Sky and Water: Two New Brunswick Poets Invite us Inside Their Worlds." Atlantic Books Today 48 (Summer 2005): N.p.
  • Neilson, Shane. Rev. of Opening the Island, by Anne Compton. Books in Canada 32.5 (Summer 2003): 47.