Paul Morin

Morin, Paul

Paul Morin, lawyer, poet and translator (b at Montréal 6 Apr 1889; d at Beloeil, Qué Sept 1963). Admitted to the Québec Bar in 1910, Morin decided to study COMPARATIVE LITERATURE at the Sorbonne, Paris. His doctoral thesis on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was published in 1913. After briefly teaching literature at McGill (1914-15) and in the US (1915-18), Morin went on to become secretary at the École des beaux-arts, Montréal (1922-30) and, after 1930, a court translator. His translation of Longfellow's Evangeline appeared in 1924. In Morin's first collection of poems, Le Paon d'émail (1911), he most closely followed the Parnassian school, emphasizing the description of scenes and works of art, full of mythological and literary allusions. In his second collection, Poèmes de cendre et d'or (1922), for which he won the Prix David, he achieved greater technical perfection and displayed a more personal style. His last collection, Géronte et son miroir, appeared in 1960. His poetry, in sparkling images, was witness to his great concern for form and lasting fascination with other places, real or imaginary.