THE CELTIC FRINGE
BLISS CARMAN.
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Mr Bliss Carman, the trans-Atlantic poet who, it seems to me, has the most distinctive note of any American poet (and the word “American” is used in its widest sense), is of Scoto-Celtic descent through his father’s side, and of East-Anglian through the maternal side; but was born of a family long settled in Canada—viz., at Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1861. His poetry is intensely individual, and with a lyric note at once poignant and reserved. Work of very high quality is expected of him, on both sides of the Atlantic; for his beautiful lyrics and poems have appeared in the periodicals of both countries. His slight volume, Low Tide on Grand-Pré (1893), is published in this country by Mr Nutt. About half of the Songs from Vagabondia (written in collaboration with Mr Richard Hovey) are of his authorship. This book, published in 1894 by Messrs Stone & Kimball of Chicago, is to be had here through Mr Elkin Mathews. It is from the Songs that the stirring war-chant of “Gamelbar” comes.
ELLEN MACKAY HUTCHINSON.
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This distinguished American lady is descended from old Highland stock. I know of no other book by her than Songs and Lyrics (Boston, Osgood & Co., 1881), but that is one which all lovers of poetry should possess. Miss Hutchinson’s name is best known in connection with that colossal and invaluable work, the Cyclopædia of American Literature (eleven vols.), in which she was the collaborator of Mr Edmund Clarence Stedman.
HUGH M‘CULLOCH.
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This descendant of an old Highland family is the author of The Quest of Heracles (Stone & Kimball, Chicago, 1894).
DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT.
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Mr Scott is a member of one of the many Scoto-Celtic families settled in Canada. He was born at Ottawa in 1862, and is the author of The Magic House (1893).
THOMAS D’ARCY M‘CGEE. (1821-1868.)
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