Bliss Carman Poems

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Bliss Carman
Bliss Carman (April 15, 1861 - June 8, 1929) was a preeminent Canadian poet. He was born William Bliss Carman in Fredericton, in the Maritime province of New Brunswick. He published under the name "Bliss Carman," although the "Bliss" is his mother's surname. As with many Canadian poets, nature figures prominently as a theme in his work. In his time, he was arguably Canada's best known poet, and was dubbed by some the "unofficial poet laureate of Canada." Bliss Carman was the great-grandson of United Empire Loyalists who fled to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution, settling in New Brunswick (then part of Nova Scotia). His literary roots run deep with an ancestry that includes a mother who was a descendant of Daniel Bliss of Concord, Massachusetts, the great-grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Also on his mother's side, he was a first cousin to another famous Canadian poet, Sir Charles G. D. Roberts. His sister was married to the botanist and historian William Francis Ganong. Carman was educated at the University of New Brunswick, the University of Edinburgh, Harvard University and New York University. Relocated to New York City Carman was influential as an editor and writer for the Independent, the Cosmopolitan, the Atlantic Monthly, the Chap Book and other literary journals. He is also well known for his anthology and editing work on The World's Best Poetry (10 volumes, 1904) and The Oxford book of American Verse (1927). After 1909, he lived in New Canaan, Connecticut but became a corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1928, the Society awarded him its Lorne Pierce Medal. Bliss Carman died at the age of 68 in New Canaan, Connecticut. His body was returned home and interred in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is honoured with a school named after him in Toronto, Ontario.

you are old, father william
 
 
"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very whit... [read poem]
speak roughly to your little boy
 
 
"Speak roughly to your little boy,
And beat him when he sneezes;
He only does it to annoy,... [read poem]
twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
 
 
`Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!'




`... [read poem]
the walrus and the carpenter
 
 
"The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to m... [read poem]
jabberwocky
 
 
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were th... [read poem]
behind the arras
 
 
I like the old house tolerably well,
Where I must dwell
Like a familiar gnome;
And ye... [read poem]
poeta fit, non nascitur
 
 
"How shall I be a poet?
How shall I write in rhyme?
You told me once `the very wish
P... [read poem]
how doth the little crocodile
 
 
"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile... [read poem]
the hunting of the snark
 
 
Girt with a boyish garb for boyish task,
Eager she wields her spade; yet loves as well
... [read poem]
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