Octave Crémazie

Octave Crémazie (1827-79), Canadian poet, who is considered the founder of French-Canadian poetry. Crémazie was born in Québec. An intellectual, he founded a bookstore in Québec that formed the basis in the 1850s and early 1860s of the city's first literary association. The group published a journal that contained articles on folklore and history as well as contributions of fiction and poetry. In 1862 Crémazie immigrated to France in the hope of economic betterment, but his somber poems of this period reveal his impoverished circumstances. Despite his expatriation, Crémazie remained faithful in spirit to his native Canada; his finest poems reveal this patriotism and depict the beauty of his homeland.