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William Wilfred Campbell

William Wilfred Campbell, rector, civil servant, novelist, poet (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Canada W 1 June 1858?; d at Ottawa 1 Jan 1918).

Campbell, William Wilfred

William Wilfred Campbell, rector, civil servant, novelist, poet (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Canada W 1 June 1858?; d at Ottawa 1 Jan 1918). Although currently less fashionable than the other Confederation poets, Campbell was a versatile, interesting writer, influenced by Burns, the English Romantics, Poe, Emerson, Longfellow, Carlyle and Tennyson. At his best, Campbell controls his influences and expresses his own religious idealism in traditional forms and genres. A lively contributor to the Toronto Globe column "At the Mermaid Inn" (1892-93), Campbell wrote 2 prose romances, several closet dramas and, in later years, political poetry and prose setting forth his concept of a "vaster Britain."