Behind the Arras: A Book of the Unseen by Bliss Carman

William Bliss Carman was born on April 15, 1861, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. While at school, Carman discovered a love of classical literature through the poetry of Dante Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne. It inspired him to write, and he published his first poem in the University's monthly paper in 1879. Overall, William Carman published 13 books of poetry and several books of prose and drama. His health began declining between 1908 and 1920, and he decided to return to Canada to start the first of a very successful line of reading tours. In 1921, Carman was awarded the title of Canada's Poet Laureate. He sadly passed away on June 8, 1929, from a brain hemorrhage. He was cremated and eventually returned to his hometown of Fredericton for burial. Twenty-five years later, the town planted a scarlet maple tree on his grave to honor a stanza in his 1892 poem "The Grave Tree." It read: 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. We are reading from Behind the Arras, a poetry collection published in 1895.