April is National Poetry Month. This month, we will be profiling a UPEI Poet each week, to honor published poets with past or current connections to our university community.
Our first featured poet is UPEI Professor Emeritus Frank Ledwell (1930-2008). A renowned Professor of English and creative writing, first at St. Dunstan’s and then at UPEI (where he was also Dean of Arts), Frank was a highly respected writer of poetry and prose, and upon retirement, he expanded his repertoire to include storytelling, especially with the trio, Crowbush. Frank Ledwell was appointed as PEI’s second Poet Laureate in 2004, serving until 2007; he was named to the Order of PEI in 2006.
Frank was born in St. Peter’s Bay, the fourth of seven children to Thomas Ledwell and Anna (Gillis) Ledwell. His memories of growing up in St. Peters are reflected in many of his poems, including Early Sorrow, which appears at the beginning of his 1986 publication North Shore of Home:
Early Sorrow
From the time that I was born
In our wee house at the Bay
I knew that I would some day
Have to leave and go away.
That’s the trouble with growing up on an island:
Only so many can stay.
-Frank Ledwell
North Shore of Home