bill bissett is one of Canada’s most recognized and celebrated experimental poets. He is particularly famous for his charismatic performances, which frequently extend into song, sound poetry, and improvised digressive story telling. When Jack Kerouac declared bissett one of the world’s great poets, and even called bissett a better writer than himself, he mistakenly described bissett as a First Nations author likely because of this exploration of oral sound traditions. bissett has also been acclaimed as one of the pioneers of visual or concrete poetry in Canada. The visual and oral dimensions of bissett’s writing connect to his extensive work as a visual artist, primarily as a painter, and to his extensive recording history with musical accompaniment. As a poet, he tours constantly…

2339 words

Citation: Betts, Gregory. "bill bissett". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 April 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=422, accessed 19 March 2024.]

422 bill bissett 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.