William Wilfred Campbell facts for kids

Quick facts for kids William Wilfred Campbell
William Wilfred Campbell
Born	1 June 1860 Newmarket, Ontario
Died	1 January 1918(1918-01-01) (aged 57) Ottawa, Ontario
Resting place	Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa
Occupation	Civil Servant
Language	English
Genre	Poetry
Literary movement	Confederation Poets
Notable works	Lake Lyrics and Other Poems
Notable awards	FRSC
Spouse	Mary Louisa DeBelle (née Dibble)
Children	Margery, Faith, Basil, Dorothy

William Wilfred Campbell (born around June 1, 1860 – died January 1, 1918) was a famous Canadian poet. He is known as one of the "Confederation Poets." This group included other well-known Canadian writers like Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. Campbell worked closely with Lampman and Scott.

By the end of the 1800s, many people thought he was Canada's "unofficial poet laureate." This means he was seen as the country's most important poet. Even though he's not as famous today as some other Confederation Poets, Campbell was a very talented writer. He was inspired by many great authors, including Robert Burns and Alfred Tennyson. Campbell used his poetry to share his strong beliefs about faith and idealism, often using traditional poetry styles.

Life Story

William Wilfred Campbell was born around June 1, 1860, in Berlin, Ontario. This town is now called Kitchener. His father, Rev. Thomas Swainston Campbell, was an Anglican priest. He was given the job of starting new churches in "Canada West," which is what Ontario was called back then. Because of his father's work, the family moved often.

The Campbell family settled in Wiarton, Ontario in 1871. Wilfred grew up there and went to high school in nearby Owen Sound. He also led a choir during this time. Campbell remembered his childhood fondly, especially the campfires:

As a boy, I always enjoyed the campfires we built in the woods or on the shingly beach of some lone lake shore, when the stars came out and peered down on the windy darkness and swallowed up the sparks and flames from the crackling logs and dry branches we heaped up while the local warmth and radiance added a contrast to the outside vastness of darkness and cold.

After teaching in Wiarton, Campbell went to the University of Toronto in 1880. He continued his studies at other colleges, including one in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Family and Career Change

In 1884, Campbell married Mary DeBelle. They had four children: Margery, Faith, Basil, and Dorothy. In 1885, Campbell became an Episcopal priest. He was soon given a church in New England.

In 1888, he came back to Canada and became a priest in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. By 1891, Campbell decided to leave the church. He then started working for the government in Ottawa. Two years later, he got a permanent job in the Department of Militia and Defence.

Writing with Friends

While living in Ottawa, Campbell became friends with Archibald Lampman, who was his neighbor. Through Lampman, he also met Duncan Campbell Scott. In 1892, Campbell, Lampman, and Scott started writing a newspaper column together. It was called "At the Mermaid Inn" and appeared in the Toronto Globe.

Lampman wrote to a friend about it: "Campbell is deplorably poor.... Partly in order to help his pockets a little Mr. Scott and I decided to see if we could get the Toronto Globe to give us space for a couple of columns of paragraphs & short articles, at whatever pay we could get for them. They agreed to it; and Campbell, Scott and I have been carrying on the thing for several weeks now."

The column only ran until July 1893. Lampman and Scott found it hard to control Campbell's strong opinions. Readers of the Toronto Globe were upset when Campbell wrote about the history of the cross in a way they didn't like. His apology didn't fix the problem.

Later Life and Beliefs

In the 1900s, Campbell strongly believed that Canada should stay closely connected to the British Empire. For example, in 1904, he told the Empire Club in Toronto that Canada had to choose between being part of the British Empire or the "Imperial Commonwealth to the south" (meaning the United States). These beliefs guided his work, like when he edited Poems of loyalty by British and Canadian authors (1913).

When he edited The Oxford book of Canadian Verse, Campbell included more of his own poems than those of other poets. However, he chose longer pieces of his own work that were not always his best. In contrast, the poems he picked from his fellow Confederation Poets were some of their finest.

In 1909, Campbell was transferred to the Dominion Archives. In 1915, he moved his family to a old stone farmhouse outside Ottawa, which he called "Kilmorie." He passed away from pneumonia on New Year's Day, 1918. He was buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery.

Every June, the William Wilfred Campbell Poetry Festival is held in his honor. This festival usually takes place in Wiarton, Ontario. [1]

Writing Career

Campbell's first small book of poems, Poems!, was likely printed around 1879 or 1880. He also published poetry in the University of Toronto's Varsity newspaper in 1881.

Early Success

While studying in Massachusetts, Campbell met a famous writer named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.. Holmes liked Campbell's poetry and suggested it to the editor of Atlantic Monthly magazine. This led to Campbell's poem "Canadian Folk Song" being published in January 1885, which helped start his career in American magazines.

In 1888, Campbell paid to have his book Snowflakes and Sunbeams printed. This book was praised in Canada and the United States for its beautiful nature poems. One of these, "Indian Summer," is still one of Canada's most loved poems. The whole book, including "Indian Summer," was put into his next collection, Lake Lyrics, published a year later.

The poems in Lake lyrics and other poems (1889) have strong rhythms and vivid descriptions. They show Campbell's deep love for nature, seeing it as a way to understand God. This book made him known as the "laureate of the lakes." Other important poems in this book included "Vapor and Blue" and "The Winter Lakes."

Public Attention

Campbell's poem "The Mother" was printed in Harper's New Monthly in April 1891. This poem is a traditional ballad about a dead mother who comes back to get her living baby. It caused a stir in the literary world and was reprinted in newspapers.

In September 1891, the House of Commons (and later the Senate) discussed whether Campbell should get a permanent government job because of his writing talent. The idea was turned down, but he did quietly get a permanent job in the Department of Militia and Defence in 1893. He stayed a civil servant until he died.

Later Works

Campbell's third book of poetry, The Dread Voyage Poems (1893), was darker than his earlier ones. In this book, his poetry started to explore how faith, science, and social ideas could fit together. This was a topic he thought about a lot. The book includes some of his best-known poems, like "How One Winter Came in the Lake Region."

In 1895, he published two plays written in verse, Mordred and Hildebrand. These were later included in a book called Poetical tragedies (1908) along with two others. Also in 1895, Campbell had a disagreement with another poet, Bliss Carman, accusing him of copying ideas.

Campbell published a new book of poems, Beyond the Hills of Dream, in 1899. This book included his poem "Victoria," written for Queen Victoria's special celebration in 1897. Many poems from The Dread Voyage were also in this book, keeping its serious tone. "Bereavement of the Fields," a good new poem, was written to remember Archibald Lampman, who had passed away.

In the early 1900s, Campbell wrote a lot of prose. He wrote five historical novels and three non-fiction books. Only two of his novels were published as books: Ian of the Orcades (1906) and A Beautiful Rebel (1909). Two of his non-fiction works were about things he loved: a book about the Great Lakes (1910) and a book about Scottish settlements in Eastern Canada (1911). The Great Lakes book was called The Beauty, History, Romance, and Mystery of the Canadian Lake Region.

In 1914, as war was approaching, Campbell published a book of patriotic poems called Sagas of a Vaster Britain. Many of these poems were from his older collections, like "England." He also included some of his best work, like "How One Winter Came to the Lake Region." This was his last book, but from 1915 to 1918, he gave out small pamphlets of poems about World War I each New Year's.

When Campbell died in 1918, his popularity faded. His writing style was often traditional, and his ideas became less popular over time. However, Campbell worked hard to make his poems feel natural, honest, and simple. He wanted to share important truths to inspire his readers to reach their highest goals. Many of his poems show great artistic skill within this aim.

Campbell was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1894. In 1938, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance, recognizing his important contributions to Canada.

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  William Wilfred Campbell