Editing Bliss Carman (section)

==Life==
William Bliss Carman was born on April 15, 1861, in [[Fredericton, New Brunswick]]. "Bliss" was his mother's maiden name. He was the great grandson<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA|title=Provincial Archives of New Brunswick}}</ref> of [[United Empire Loyalists]] who fled to [[Nova Scotia]] after the [[American Revolution]], settling in [[New Brunswick]] (then part of Nova Scotia).<ref name="DCB">{{cite DCB|title=Carman, William Bliss|first=D.M.R.|last=Bentley|volume=15|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/carman_william_bliss_15E.html|accessdate=September 23, 2015}}</ref> His literary roots run deep with an ancestry that includes a mother who was a descendant of Daniel Bliss of Concord, Massachusetts, the great-uncle of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]. His sister, Jean, married the botanist and historian [[William Francis Ganong]]. And on his mother's side he was a first cousin to the siblings [[Charles G. D. Roberts|Charles (later Sir Charles) G. D. Roberts]] and [[Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald]].<ref name="adams"/>

===Education and early career===
[[File:Bliss Carman class photo.jpg|thumb|Carman in 1879]]

Carman was first educated through a private tutor until 1872 due to medical issues stemmed from a severe nose injury he received at the age of four. Afterwards, he attended the [[Fredericton Collegiate School]] where he came under the influence of headmaster [[George Robert Parkin]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tremblay |first1=Tony |title=Bliss Carman |url=https://nble.lib.unb.ca/browse/c/bliss-carman |website=New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia |access-date=October 2, 2024}}</ref> who gave him a love of [[classical literature]]<ref name=hodd/> and introduced him to the poetry of [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] and [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]].<ref name="robertsadams">{{cite web |first=John Coldwell |last=Adams |url=http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/confederation/John%20Coldwell%20Adams/Confederation%20Voices/chapter%202.html |title=Sir Charles G.D. Roberts |work=Confederation Voices: Seven Canadian Poets |publisher=Canadian Poetry Press |date=2007 |access-date=March 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923200130/http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/confederation/John%20Coldwell%20Adams/Confederation%20Voices/chapter%202.html |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was later educated at the [[University of New Brunswick]] (UNB), from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1881.<ref name=hodd/> His first published poem was in the ''UNB Monthly'' in 1879. He then spent a year at [[Oxford University|Oxford]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]] (1882–1883), but returned home to receive his master's degree from UNB in 1884.<ref name=allan>Kelsey Allan, "William Bliss Carman," ''New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia'', STU.ca, Web, Apr. 16, 2011.</ref>

After the death of his father in January 1885 and his mother in February 1886,<ref name=allan/> Carman enrolled in [[Harvard University]] (1886–1887).<ref name="DCB"/> At Harvard he moved in a literary circle that included American poet [[Richard Hovey]], who would become his close friend and his collaborator on the successful ''Vagabondia'' poetry series.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Bliss Carman|chapter=Carman, Bliss |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature|edition=2nd|editor-first1=Eugene|editor-last1=Benson|editor-first2=William|editor-last2=Toye|date=2006|location=Don Mills, Ontario|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195411676.001.0001/acref-9780195411676-e-236?rskey=1W55WL&result=1|isbn=978-0-1917-3514-1|access-date=September 24, 2015|chapter-url-access=subscription }}</ref> Carman and Hovey were members of the "[[Visionists]]" circle along with Herbert Copeland and F. Holland Day, who would later form the Boston publishing firm Copeland & Day that would launch ''Vagabondia''.<ref name="adams"/>

After Harvard Carman briefly returned to Canada, but was back in Boston by February 1890. "Boston is one of the few places where my critical education and tastes could be of any use to me in earning money," he wrote. "New York and London are about the only other places."<ref name="vincent"/> Unable to find employment in Boston, he moved to New York City and became literary editor of the ''New York Independent'' at the grand sum of $20 a week.<ref name="vincent"/> There he could help his Canadian friends get published, in the process "introducing Canadian poets to its readers."<ref name="gundy">{{cite encyclopedia |first=H.P. |last=Gundy |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bliss-carman/ |date=February 7, 2008 |title=Bliss Carman |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |access-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref> However, Carman was never a good fit at the semi-religious weekly, and he was summarily dismissed in 1892. "Brief stints would follow with ''Current Literature'', ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', ''[[The Chap-Book]]'', and ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'', but after 1895 he would be strictly a contributor to the magazines and newspapers, never an editor in any department."<ref name="adams"/>

To make matters worse, Carman's first book of poetry, 1893's ''[[#Grand|Low Tide on Grand Pré]]'', was not a success; it was not published in Canada, and distribution in the US was hampered when the publisher went bankrupt.<ref name="vincent"/>

===Literary success===
At this low point, ''[[#Vagabondia|Songs of Vagabondia]],'' the first Hovey-Carman collaboration, was published by Copeland & Day in 1894. It was an immediate success. "No one could have been more surprised at the tremendous popularity of these care-free celebrations (the first of the three collections went through seven rapid editions) than the young authors, Richard Hovey and Bliss Carman."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Louis |editor-last=Untermayer |chapter=Preface |chapter-url={{google books|Xb8dRuY6jEUC|plainurl=yes|page=xxvii}} |encyclopedia=Modern American Poetry |location=New York |publisher=[[Harcourt, Brace]] |date=1921 |edition=2nd |page=xxvii |ref=Untermayer |access-date=September 24, 2015}}.</ref> ''Songs of Vagabondia'' would ultimately "go through sixteen printings (ranging from 500 to 1000 copies) over the next thirty years. The three ''Vagabondia'' volumes that followed fell slightly short of that record, but each went through numerous printings. Carman and Hovey quickly found themselves with a cult following, especially among college students, who responded to the poetry's anti-materialistic themes, its celebration of individual freedom, and its glorification of comradeship."<ref name="adams"/>

The success of ''Songs of Vagabondia'' prompted another Boston firm, Stone & Kimball, to reissue ''Low Tide...'' and to hire Carman as the editor of its literary journal, ''The Chapbook''. The next year, though, the editor's job went West (with Stone & Kimball) to Chicago, while Carman opted to remain in Boston.<ref name="vincent"/>

"In Boston in 1895, he worked on a new poetry book, ''[[#Arras|Behind the Arras]]'', which he placed with a prominent Boston publisher (Lamson, Wolffe).... He published two more books of verse with Lamson, Wolffe."<ref name="vincent"/> He also began writing a weekly column for the Boston ''Evening Transcript'', which ran from 1895 to 1900.<ref name="DCB"/>

In 1896 Carman met Mary Perry King, who became the greatest and longest-lasting female influence in his life. Mrs. King became his patron: "She put pence in his purse, and food in his mouth, when he struck bottom and, what is more, she often put a song on his lips when he despaired, and helped him sell it." According to Carman's roommate, [[Mitchell Kennerley]], "On rare occasions they had intimate relations at 10 E. 16 which they always advised me of by leaving a bunch of violets — Mary Perry's favorite flower — on the pillow of my bed."<ref>{{cite journal |first=H. Pearson |last=Gundy |title=Kennerley on Carman |journal=Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews |publisher=Canadian Poetry Press |volume=14 |date=Spring–Summer 1984 |url=http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/cpjrn/vol14/gundy.htm |access-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304202401/http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/cpjrn/vol14/gundy.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> If he knew of the latter, Dr. King did not object: "He even supported her involvement in the career of Bliss Carman to the extent that the situation developed into something close to a ''[[ménage à trois]]''" with the Kings.<ref name="adams"/>

Through Mrs. King's influence Carman became an advocate of 'unitrinianism,' a philosophy which "drew on the theories of [[François Delsarte|François-Alexandre-Nicolas-Chéri Delsarte]] to develop a strategy of mind-body-spirit harmonization aimed at undoing the physical, psychological, and spiritual damage caused by urban modernity."<ref name="DCB"/> This shared belief created a bond between Mrs. King and Carman but estranged him somewhat from his former friends.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

In 1899 Lamson, Wolffe was taken over by the Boston firm of Small, Maynard & Co., who had also acquired the rights to ''Low Tide...'' "The rights to all Carman's books were now held by one publisher and, in lieu of earnings, Carman took a financial stake in the company. When Small, Maynard failed in 1903, Carman lost all his assets."<ref name="vincent"/>

Down but not out, Carman signed with another Boston company, [[L.C. Page & Company|L.C. Page]], and began to churn out new work. Page published seven books of new Carman poetry between 1902 and 1905. As well, the firm released three books based on Carman's ''Transcript'' columns, and a prose work on unitrinianism, ''[[#Personality|The Making of Personality]]'', that he'd written with Mrs. King.<ref name="gundy"/> "Page also helped Carman rescue his 'dream project,' a deluxe edition of his collected poetry to 1903.... Page acquired distribution rights with the stipulation that the book be sold privately, by subscription. The project failed; Carman was deeply disappointed and became disenchanted with Page, whose grip on Carman's copyrights would prevent the publication of another collected edition during Carman's lifetime."<ref name="vincent"/>

Carman also picked up some needed cash in 1904 as editor-in-chief of the 10-volume project, ''The World's Best Poetry''.<ref name="DCB"/>

===Later years===
[[File:BlissCarmamMem2 2014.jpg|thumb|Bliss Carman Memorial, Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredericton NB]]
After 1908 Carman lived near the Kings' [[New Canaan, Connecticut]], estate, "Sunshine", or in the summer in a cabin near their summer home in the [[Catskills]], "Moonshine."<ref name="adams"/> Between 1908 and 1920, literary taste began to shift, and his fortunes and health declined.<ref name="vincent"/>

By 1920, Carman was impoverished and recovering from a near-fatal attack of [[tuberculosis]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} That year he revisited Canada and "began the first of a series of successful and relatively lucrative reading tours, discovering 'there is nothing worth talking of in book sales compared with reading.'"<ref name="vincent"/> "'Breathless attention, crowded halls, and a strange, profound enthusiasm such as I never guessed could be,' he reported to a friend. 'And good thrifty money too. Think of it! An entirely new life for me, and I am the most surprised person in Canada.'" Carman was feted at "a dinner held by the newly formed Canadian Authors' Association at the [[Ritz-Carlton Montreal|Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montreal]] on 28 October 1921 where he was crowned Canada's Poet Laureate with a wreath of maple leaves."<ref name="adams"/>

The tours of Canada continued, and by 1925 Carman had finally acquired a Canadian publisher. "[[McClelland & Stewart]] (Toronto) issued a collection of selected earlier verses and became his main publisher. They benefited from Carman's popularity and his revered position in Canadian literature, but no one could convince L.C. Page to relinquish its copyrights. An edition of collected poetry was published only after Carman's death, due greatly to the persistence of his literary executor, [[Lorne Pierce]]."<ref name="vincent"/>

During the 1920s, Carman was a member of the [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax]] literary and social set, [[The Song Fishermen]]. In 1927 he edited ''The Oxford Book of American Verse''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1k8GAQAAIAAJ&q=carman|title=The Oxford book of American verse|first=Bliss|last=Carman|date=30 December 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780896090118 |access-date=30 December 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Carman died of a [[brain hemorrhage]] at the age of 68 in New Canaan, and was [[cremated]] in New Canaan. "It took two months, and the influence of [[Premier of New Brunswick|New Brunswick's Premier]] [[John B. M. Baxter|J.B.M. Baxter]] and [[Canadian Prime Minister]] [[W.L.M. King]], for Carman's ashes to be returned to Fredericton."<ref name=allan/> "His ashes were buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredericton, and a national memorial service was held at the [[Christ Church Cathedral (Fredericton)|Anglican cathedral]] there." Twenty-five years later, on May 13, 1954, a scarlet maple tree was planted at his gravesite, to grant his request in his 1892 poem "The Grave-Tree":<ref name="DCB"/>
{{block indent|1=<poem>
Let me have a scarlet maple
For the grave-tree at my head,
With the quiet sun behind it,
In the years when I am dead.
</poem>}}