Carman, Bliss , 1861-1929, Canadian poet, b. Fredericton, N.B. He studied at the universities of New Brunswick and Edinburgh and at Harvard. While at Harvard (1886-88) he began a friendship with Richard Hovey that later resulted in their joint publication of the series
Songs from Vagabondia (1894, 1896, 1901). Carman's poetry is emotional, optimistic, and impressionistic, filled with vivid, sensuous imagery. Among his numerous volumes of verse are
Behind the Arras (1895), the series
Pipes of Pan (1902-5), and
Echoes from Vagabondia (1912). The best of these and other poems are collected in
Later Poems (1921) and
Ballads and Lyrics (1923). His
Talks on Poetry and Life, lectures on Canadian literature, was published in 1926.
Bibliography
See letters, edited by H. P. Gundy (1981); study by D. Stephens (1966).
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