At the Mermaid Inn

by Wilfred Campbell, Archibald Lampman, Duncan Campbell Scott, Douglas Lochhead (Editor), Barrie Davies (Introduction)

Overview

The original At the Mermaid Inn, one of the most notable literary endeavours in Canada, was the result of the combined efforts of three poets: Wilfred Campbell (1858-1918), Archibald Lampman (1861-99), and Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947).

A Saturday column that ran in the Toronto Globe from 6 February 1892 until 1 July 1893, it covered a wide range of material – original poetry and prose, book and music reviews, articles on philosophy, politics, poetics, religion, and writings on a myriad of other matters. Critics have often referred to the column in general terms, but until now it has been unavailable in book form for detailed study. This careful transcription of the entire series offers a fresh perspective on three of the most important Canadian literary figures of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Here are three major Canadian poets as prose writers. Lampman writes essays about nature and poetry; Campbell provides controversial views on many subjects, especially religion and poetry; Scott writes book reviews and scholarly essays on music and a variety of Canadian matters. At the Mermaid Inn gives a fascinating glimpse into the literary and social concerns of the day. This volume beings to new light one of the most readable and vital documents in Canadian life and literature. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442654433
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/15/1979
Series:	Heritage
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	610 KB

About the Author

Wilfred Campbell was a Canadian poet. He is often classed as one of the country's Confederation Poets, a group that included fellow Canadians Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott; he was a colleague of Lampman and Scott. By the end of the 19th century, he was considered the "unofficial poet laureate of Canada.

Archibald Lampman (1861-1899) was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott.

Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947) was a Canadian bureaucrat, Canadian poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets. Scott was a Canadian lifetime civil servant who served as deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, and is better known today for advocating the assimilation of Canada’s First Nations peoples in that capacity.

Douglas Lochhead (1922-2011) was a professor emeritus of Mount Allison University.

Barrie Davies (1939-2006) was a professor of the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick.