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.

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.

Wilfred Campbell's profile page

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.

Archibald Lampman's profile page

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.

Duncan Campbell Scott's profile page

In the spring of 2001, Douglas Lochhead received the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in English-language Literary Arts from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, Professor Emeritus at Mount Allison University, Senior Fellow and Founding Librarian at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a life member of the League of Canadian Poets. After beginning his career as an advertising copywriter, he became a librarian, a professor of English, a specialist in typography and fine hand printing, and a bibliographer, scholar, and editor — indeed, he has characterized himself as “an unrepentant generalist.” At Mount Allison University, he was a founder and the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, and he held the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies.

Douglas Lochhead's profile page

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

Barrie Davies' profile page