Charles G. D. Roberts | |
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Sir Charles G. D. Roberts
Source: Library and Archives Canada, C-006718 |
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Born | Charles George Douglas Roberts 10 January 1860 Douglas, New Brunswick |
Died | 26 November 1943 Toronto, Ontario |
(aged 83)
Language | English |
Nationality | Canadian |
Citizenship | British subject |
Genre | poetry |
Literary movement | Confederation Poets, The Song Fishermen |
Notable works | Songs of the Common Day, The Book of the Rose, The Iceberg and other poems |
Notable awards | Knighthood (KCMG), FRSC, Lorne Pierce Medal |
Spouse | Mary Fenety, Joan Montgomery |
Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts, KCMG FRSC (January 10, 1860 – November 26, 1943) was a Canadian poet and prose writer who is known as the Father of Canadian Poetry. He was "almost the first Canadian author to obtain worldwide reputation and influence; he was also a tireless promoter and encourager of Canadian literature. He published numerous works on Canadian exploration and natural history, verse, travel books, and fiction." "At his death he was regarded as Canada's leading man of letters."
Besides his own body of work, Roberts is also called the "Father of Canadian Poetry" because he served as an inspiration and a source of assistance for other Canadian poets of his time.
Roberts, his cousin Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman and Duncan Campbell Scott are known as the Confederation Poets.
Roberts was born in Douglas, New Brunswick in 1860, the eldest child of Emma Wetmore Bliss and Rev. George Goodridge Roberts (an Anglican priest). Rev. Roberts was rector of Fredericton and canon of Christ Church Cathedral, New Brunswick. Charles's brother Theodore Goodridge Roberts and sister, Jane Elizabeth Gostwycke Roberts, would also become authors.
Between the ages of 8 months and 14 years, Roberts was raised in the parish of Westcock, New Brunswick, near Sackville, by the Tantramar Marshes. He was homeschooled, "mostly by his father, who was proficient in Greek, Latin and French." He published his first writing, three articles in The Colonial Farmer, at 12 years of age.