Article

Alfred DesRochers

Updated by Daniel Baird

Published Online February 10, 2008

Last Edited May 26, 2016

Alfred DesRochers, journalist, translator, poet, critic (b at Saint-Élie d'Orford, Qué 5 Aug 1901; d at Montréal 12 Oct 1978). As a poet and critic DesRochers was an important figure in Québec literature between the wars.

DesRochers, Alfred

Alfred DesRochers, journalist, translator, poet, critic (b at Saint-Élie d'Orford, Qué 5 Aug 1901; d at Montréal 12 Oct 1978). As a poet and critic DesRochers was an important figure in Québec literature between the wars. L'Offrande aux vierges folles (1928) and, in particular, À l'ombre del'Orford (1929, Prix David 1932) reveal an innovative poet who went beyond the regionalism and land-based themes of his time. Inspired by French romanticism and by the vastness of North America, DesRochers adopted a realistic viewpoint as well as the verse and structures of traditional versification. Paragraphes (1931) is the work of an original critic who greatly influenced 1930s poets. Two other collections of his poetry appeared in the 1960s, Le Retour de Titus (1963) and Elégies pour l'épouse en-allée (1967). Oeuvres poétiques (1977) included some important poems that had appeared in magazines and newspapers.