Who Was F.R. Scott?

Francis Reginald Scott (1899-1985) was a Canadian poet, originally from Québec City. Scott was brought up in a deeply religious, Anglican household, as his father served as a rector at a local Anglican church. Scott pursued his post-secondary education in Britain, where he attended Oxford University until 1923, and studied history.

Upon his return to Canada, Scott began studying law at Montreal's McGill University and became a law professor in 1928. Scott, however, always had an interest in poetry and in 1925 he established a journal called "The McGill Fortnightly Review." Much of Scott's poetry and his worldview was influenced by the hardship of the Great Depression. By the 1930s, Scott had become a socialist and turned away from capitalism altogether. He even helped establish the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1942, a left-wing political group. Scott's politics were always reflected in his poetry. His poems are often witty and satirical, such as "The Canadian Authors Meet" (1927), in which Scott ridiculed the Canadian Authors' Association and the self-indulgent behaviour of some writers.