A poet, a professor and constitutional lawyer, Francis Reginald Scott was born in Quebec City. His father, F.G. Scott, was a canon in the Anglican Church and himself the author of several volumes of verse and prose. F.R. Scott studied at Oxford and McGill, eventually joining the Law Faculty of the latter institution. A social activist, he played an active role in the founding of the CCF and, later, the NDP. Beginning with Social Reconstruction and the B.N.A. Act (1934), Scott's earliest books dealt on politics and social issues. His influence on Canadian literature is far reaching. Scott was an early champion of modernist poetry; he fought against censorship in the Supreme Court and was instrumental in advancing translation and bilingualism. He twice received the Governor General's Award – for non-fiction with Essays on the Constitution (1977) and for poetry with The Collected Poems of F.R. Scott (1981).

Further information about the life and works of F.R. Scott:
- The Canadian Encyclopedia entry
- Wikipedia entry
- Canadian Poetry Online - University of Toronto entry