Bliss Carman was one of the Canadian Confederation poets--those born in the early 1860s, of whom Carman, Charles G. D. Roberts, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott are the acknowledged leaders--who helped bring poetry to the attention of a Canadian public recovering from the problems attendant to an emerging country that celebrated its Confederation in 1867. Basically a romantic poet, Carman possessed an easy lyrical gift and created imagery at times startling and poignant. From 1895 to 1915 Carman was highly regarded among North American poets because he had become a hybrid Canadian-American in outlook, yet had retained that genuine, if uncertain, lyricism that played an important part in the development of Canadian poetry.

Carman, born 15 April 1861 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, came from a family that loved tradition, concerned with retaining a link with their English past. The son of John and Florence Carman, Bliss soon learned about this tradition: his...