Feb. 14 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.M. Klein, arguably Canada’s greatest poet. Although recognition of this milestone is a far cry from, say, Scotland’s observance of Robbie Burns Day, it is no less a cause for celebration.

Born in Ratno, Ukraine, Klein came to Montreal with his family in his first year of life. As a young man, he emerged as a central figure in Montreal’s Jewish community; in addition to his distinction as a dazzling poet and novelist, he was a lawyer, politician, speechwriter, fundraiser for the fledgling state of Israel, journalist, literary critic, McGill lecturer, family man and inspiration to myriad writers.

More than any other poet, Klein immortalized Montreal. He invented a bilingual language in his poem, Montreal, to reflect the linguistic character of the city: “O city metropole, isle riverain!” His poem Grain Elevator, celebrating Montreal’s port landmark, places the city within the sweep of history: “Sometimes, it makes me think Arabian, / the grain picked up, like tic-tacs out of time.” And in his poem Autobiographical, he examines the interplay between cityscape and personal history: “Out of the ghetto streets where a Jewboy / Dreamed pavement into pleasant bible-land.”

Klein still enjoys a near-mythical status among poetry enthusiasts. Much of the reason for this is the enduring quality of his oeuvre. Though his writing career was relatively brief, he is often credited for making millennia of Jewish culture relevant in a 20th-century context, and for dragging Canada, belatedly, into the high modernist era through experimentation with complex linguistic and thematic schemes.

Another reason why Klein continues to intrigue readers is that he, famously, fell silent in the 1950s, when he was only in his mid-40s and at the height of his powers. There are as many interpretations of this silence as there are Klein admirers. Those who wish to have more time for their own creative endeavours, for example, often say that he was frustrated at having to earn a living practising law. Writers who feel they deserve a greater readership suggest that he was frustrated at the modest reception for his work. And so on. Klein’s silence seems to be the canvas on which we each paint our own truth.

Throughout much of Canada, this milestone birthday will pass unnoticed. Still, Klein, who died in 1972, continues to receive widespread attention.

Scholars, led by Zailig Pollock, have been working for decades to publish authoritative volumes of his complete writings. Editors Seymour Mayne and Glen Rotchin published an anthology of tribute poems. Usher Caplan’s Klein biography, Like One that Dreamed, remains a seminal text of Montreal Jewish life. Klein has inspired critical tomes, fictional stories, documentary films, and Leonard Cohen’s song To a Teacher. The Quebec Writers’ Federation’s annual poetry prize is named in his honour, and Endre Farkas’s play about him, The Haunted House, will open next week at the Segal Centre.

He may not yet have inspired a national holiday, but there is no shortage of opportunities for readers to find Klein and celebrate his life and work.

Harold Heft completed his doctorate on A.M. Klein and is vice-president of Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation in Toronto.

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