Octave Crémazie

Octave Crémazie
Born	(1827-04-16)April 16, 1827 Quebec City, Lower Canada
Died	January 16, 1879(1879-01-16) (aged 51) Le Havre, France
Genres	Poetry

Octave Crémazie (April 16, 1827 – January 16, 1879) was a French Canadian poet. He has been called "the father of French Canadian poetry" for his patriotic verse, often rhetorical in style, celebrating such subjects as Montcalm's defence of Fort Carillon in "Le drapeau de Carillon". Other poems include "Le vieux soldat canadien" and the unfinished "Promenade des trois morts".

A statue depicting a French Canadian soldier can be found at Square St. Louis (Montréal, Rue de Malines and St. Denis) with Crémazie's name across the top and the years 1827-1879 (his years of birth and death). Underneath the soldier are the words "Pour mon drapeau je viens ici mourir". There is also a Montréal metro station named for him on the orange line, on the boulevard likewise named in his honour.

Early life

Of the 12 children born to Octave Crémazie’s parents, eight died in infancy, so that Octave, the youngest of those who survived, spent his early years in the company of three brothers: Jacques, Joseph, and Louis. At the seminary of Quebec, where he was admitted as a day-pupil in 1836, Octave, under the influence of Abbé John Holmes*, acquired a liking for literature.

Holmes introduced him particularly to the French romantics, who were subsequently a predominant influence on the poet, as the style of his poems shows and as he himself states. Musset and Lamartine were soon his literary "gods", together with the Victor Hugo of the period prior to 1850.

When Octave had finished his studies in 1844, he went into partnership with his brother Joseph at the head of a small bookshop, which had been established in 1833, and which thenceforth bore the sign “J. et O. Crémazie.” More venturesome than his elder brother, Octave worked to develop the business; in 1847 it was installed at 12 Rue de la Fabrique, and soon became one of the most important centres of French culture and refinement in Quebec City.

Crémazie, a great reader, the first to use the classical and modern books he sold, quickly acquired a reputation as an intellectual and scholar. Thus on 2 Dec. 1847, at the age of 20, his name appeared among the founders at Quebec of the Institut Canadien, in which he subsequently held various positions on the governing body, including that of president in 1857–58. On the other hand, the company of ladies did not interest him; he was even perhaps a bit of a misogynist. The question of marriage was one he never entertained.

See also

Poetry portal

• List of Quebec authors

References

• "Octave Crémazie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005. 
• Octave Crémazie's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia

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