{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Short description|Canadian poet, writer, and playwright}} {{Infobox person |name =Milton Acorn |birth_date =March 30, 1923 |birth_place=Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada |death_date ={{dda|1986|8|20|1923|3|30}} |death_place= Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada |other_names=The People's Poet |occupation =Poet, writer, playwright |spouse =Gwendolyn MacEwen (1962–1964; divorced) |birth_name =Milton James Rhode Acorn }} '''Milton James Rhode Acorn''' (March 30, 1923 – August 20, 1986), nicknamed ''The People's Poet'' by his peers,<ref>Joan Givner. [https://quillandquire.com/review/milton-acorn-in-love-and-anger/ "Book Review: Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger by Richard Lemm"]. ''Quill & Quire'',</ref> was a Canadian poet, writer, and playwright.<ref name="Jewinski1991">{{cite book|author=Ed Jewinski|title=Milton Acorn and His Works|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lsrTAAAACAAJ|year=1991|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-55022-062-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Works and Days|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lnuAAAAMAAJ|volume=20|year=2002|publisher=Department of English, Eastern Illinois University|pages=113–114}}</ref><ref name="New1986">{{cite book|author=William H. New|title=Canadian Writers Since 1960, First Series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpCYg7ffRtUC|year=1986|publisher=Gale Research Company|isbn=978-0-8103-1731-4|pages=3–8}}</ref>
==Early life== He was born in Prince Edward Island, and grew up in Charlottetown. He joined the armed forces during World War II at the age of eighteen.<ref name="Waterston2003">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Waterston|title=Rapt in Plaid: Canadian Literature and Scottish Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8YBe1dC2G4C&pg=PA37|date=December 2003|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8685-3|page=37}}</ref>
==Career==
During World War II, on a trans-Atlantic crossing, Acorn suffered a wound from depth charges. The wound was severe enough for him to receive a disability pension from Veterans Affairs for most of his life. He returned to Prince Edward Island and moved to Montreal, Quebec, in 1956 and was for a time a member of the Labor-Progressive Party. He spent several years living at the Hotel Waverly in Toronto, Ontario.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Fraser |last1=Robinson |first2=Josef |last2=Szende |url=http://www.heritagetoronto.org/discover-toronto/itours/spadina-itour |title=Spadina iTour |publisher=Heritage Toronto |year=2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515135009/http://www.heritagetoronto.org/discover-toronto/itours/spadina-itour |archivedate=May 15, 2009 }}</ref>
In Montreal, he published some of his early poems in the political magazine, ''New Frontiers''.<ref name="Gudgeon1996">{{cite book|author=Chris Gudgeon|title=Out of this world: the natural history of Milton Acorn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmQfAQAAIAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press|page=174|isbn=9781551520308}}</ref> In 1956, he self-published a mimeographed chapbook, ''In Love and Anger,'' his first collection of poems.<ref>[http://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2010/02/milton-acorns-ive-tasted-my-blood-by-ron-dart-1.html "Milton Acorn's "I've Tasted My Blood""]. ''Clarion-Journal'', February 1. 2010. by Ron Dart</ref> In the 1950s, some of his poetry was published in the magazine ''Canadian Forum''.<ref name="Bowering2005">{{cite book|author=George Bowering|title=Left Hook: A Sideways Look at Canadian Writing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z51qzLPsMn8C&pg=PA223|year=2005|publisher=Raincoast Books|isbn=978-1-55192-845-6|pages=223–}}</ref>
He was for a short time married to poet Gwendolyn MacEwen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/macewen/comments.htm |title=Canadian Poetry Online | University of Toronto Libraries | Gwendolyn MacEwen |publisher=Library.utoronto.ca |date= |accessdate=December 26, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Balachandran2004">{{cite book|author=K. Balachandran|title=Critical Responses to Canadian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcZriCQObnIC&pg=PA13|year=2004|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-521-9|page=13}}</ref>
In the mid-1960s, he moved to Vancouver and joined the League for Socialist Action.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Archivist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlRmAAAAMAAJ|volume=14-15|year=1987|publisher=Public Archives of Canada.}}</ref> In 1967, Acorn helped found the "underground" newspaper ''The Georgia Straight'' in Vancouver, British Columbia.<ref name=Coupey>Coupey, Pierre. "Straight Beginnings: The Rise & Fall of the Underground Press", ''The Grape'' weekly newspaper #8, pages 12 and 13, March 8, 1972, Vancouver, BC, Canada.</ref> In 1969, he published his poetry collection ''I've Tasted My Blood''.<ref>[http://www.booksincanada.com/article_view.asp?id=3546 "No Man is an Island"]. by Harold Heft ''Books in Canada'' website</ref>
Acorn was awarded the ''Canadian Poets Award'' in 1970 and the Governor General's Award in 1976 for his collection of poems, ''The Island Means Minago''.<ref name=Downey>Downey, Donn. "Award-winning poet honored by peers", ''The Globe and Mail''. August 22, 1986.</ref><ref>Carolyn Purden. [https://quillandquire.com/review/out-of-this-world-the-natural-history-of-milton-acorn/ "Book Review: "Out of This World: The Natural History of Milton Acorn by Chris Gudgeon"]. ''Quill & Quire'',</ref> In 1977, Acorn introduced the Jackpine sonnet, a form designed to be as irregular and spikey (and Canadian) as a jack pine tree, but with internal structure and integrity. Without a fixed number of lines and with varied line lengths, the Jackpine sonnet depends on interweaving internal rhymes, assonance and occasional end-rhymes.<ref>{{cite book|last= Acorn|first= Milton|date= 1977|title= Jackpine Sonnets|url= https://archive.org/details/jackpinesonnets0000acor/page/|url-access= registration|location= Toronto|publisher= Steel Rail Educational Publishing|page= [https://archive.org/details/jackpinesonnets0000acor/page/ Introduction]|isbn= 9780887910074|author-link= Milton Acorn}}</ref>
In July 1986, he suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital. Acorn died in his home town of Charlottetown on August 20, 1986, due to complications associated with his heart condition and diabetes. According to fellow poet and friend Jim Deahl, he had "lost his will to live after the death of a younger sister."<ref name=Downey/>
==Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award== In 1987, the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award was established in his memory by Ted Plantos. It is presented annually to an outstanding "people's poet." The award was initially<ref name="Clarke2002">{{cite book|author=George Elliott Clarke|title=Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02WgzSvWyMQC&pg=PA297|year=2002|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8191-9|pages=297–}}</ref> $250 (since raised to $500) and a medallion, modelled after the one given to Milton Acorn.
==Acorn on film== In 1971, Acorn was the subject of a documentary, ''Milton Acorn: The People’s Poet'', which was aired on the CBC program ''Thirty Minutes''.<ref>[https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-peoples-poet-in-three-dimensions"]. "The "People’s Poet" in three dimensions"]. ''Canadian Dimensions'', Brenda Austin-Smith, September 28, 2016</ref> The National Film Board of Canada produced two films on Acorn's life and works. The first is entitled ''In Love and Anger: Milton Acorn - Poet,'' and came out in 1984. The second is called ''A Wake for Milton''. It was produced in 1988.
==Bibliography== *1956: ''In Love and Anger'' *1960: ''Against a League of Liars'' *1960: ''The Brain's the Target'' *1963: ''Jawbreakers'' () *1969: ''I've Tasted My Blood'' <ref>{{cite book|title=The Canadian Forum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZMYAQAAIAAJ|volume=75|year=1996|publisher=Canadian Forum|pages=11–12}}</ref> *1971: ''I Shout Love and On Shaving Off His Beard'' *1972: ''More Poems for People'' *1975: ''The Island'' *1977: ''The Road to Charlottetown'' (with Cedric Smith) *1977: ''Jackpine Sonnets'' *1982: ''Captain Neal MacDougal'' & the Naked Goddess *1983: ''Dig Up My Heart'' *1986: ''Whiskey Jack'' HMS Press (Toronto) {{ISBN|0-919957-21-8}}
==Posthumous collections== *1987: ''A Stand of Jackpine'' (with James Deahl) *1987: ''The Uncollected Acorn'' *1987: ''I Shout Love and Other Poems'' *1988: ''Hundred Proof Earth'' *1996: ''To Hear the Faint Bells''
===Anthologies=== *2002: ''Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada'', ed. Anne Compton, Laurence Hutchman, Ross Leckie and Robin McGrath (Goose Lane Editions)
==Discography== *''More Poems for People'' Audio CD reading Canadian Poetry Association, (1986 audio tape / 2001 CD) {{ISBN|0-919957-42-0}}
==Literary awards== *1970 Canadian Poets' Award, more commonly known as the People's Poet Award and Medal *1975 Governor General's Award *1977 Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree (from the University of Prince Edward Island) *1986 Life member Canadian Poetry Association
==See also== {{Portal|Biography}} *Canadian poetry *List of Canadian poets
==References== <references />
==External links== *[http://www.stu-acpa.com/milton-acorn.html Atlantic Canadian Poets' Archive: Milton Acorn] - Biography, 1 poem (Knowing I Live in a Dark Age), poetry analysis, and bibliography. *[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/acorn/poems.htm Canadian Poetry Online: Milton Acorn] - Biography and 6 poems (The Island, I Shout Love, What I Know of God is This, Hummingbird, Live With Me On Earth Under the Invisible Daylight Moon, The Natural History of Elephants) *[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/milton-acorn/ Milton Acorn's] entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia *[http://atom.archives.sfu.ca/index.php/milton-acorn-fonds Records of Milton Acorn are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books] *{{cite book|author=Richard Lemm|title=Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUswJIHO47oC|year=1999|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-88629-340-6}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Acorn, Milton}} Category:1923 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Canadian military personnel from Prince Edward Island Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:Canadian male poets Category:Governor General's Award–winning poets Category:Writers from Charlottetown Category:Chapbook writers Category:Canadian socialists Category:Canadian military personnel of World War II Category:Poets from Prince Edward Island