A generation of poets, born in the decade of Confederation and raised in the new country of Canada, came to be known as the Confederation Poets. Their writings, which started to be published in the 1880s, were inspired by their young homeland. Here are some brief descriptions of the better known poets and a small taste of their work.
BLISS CARMAN (1861-1929)
Bliss Carman was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick. After attending universities in Canada, the USA and Scotland, he became the literary editor of the 
New York Independent, introducing Canadian poetry to its readers. Other works of his include The Kinship of Nature (1903). The following is an excerpt from his poem, "Low Tide on Grande Pré".
"Low Tide on Grand Pré" (1893):
The sun goes down, and over all
These barren reaches by the tide
Such unelusive glories fall,
I almost dream they yet will bide
Until the coming of the tide....
ISABELLA VALANCY CRAWFORD (1850-1887)
Isabella Valanc
y Crawford was raised in rural Ontario and often wrote about nature and the pioneering way of life. In 1875, her father died, leaving her to support herself and her ailing mother. She did this by selling her prose and poetry to newspapers includng the Toronto Globe and the Evening Telegram. She died in her flat in downtown Toronto of heart failure in 1887. In 1905, an editor and her brother co-operated to publish a collection of her work. The following is from her poem about pioneer life called "Malcolm's Katie".
"Malcolm's Katie" (1884)
Said the high hill, in the morning, ‘Look on me–
Behold, sweet earth, sweet sister sky, behold
The red flames on my peaks, and how my pines
Are cressets of pure gold; my quarried scars
Of black crevasse and shadow fill’d canyon
Are traced in silver mist; how on my breast
Hang the soft purple fringes of the night
These wild and rocking woods
Dotted with little homes of unbarked trees
Where dwell the fleers from waves of want...
ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN (1861-1899)
Archibald Lampman, working in Ottawa, the capital of
Canada, as a postal clerk, often found inspiration in the countryside of the Ottawa Valley. His early writing was for school publications. Later he achieved recognition in the USA in such magazines as Harpers, Scribners and the Atlantic Monthly. The following is an excerpt from Lampman’s poem, "Heat".
"Heat" (1888):
From plains that reel to southward, dim,
The road runs by me white and bare;
Up the steep hill it seems to swim
Beyond, and melt into the glare.
Upward half-way, or it may be
Nearer the summit, slowly steals
A hay-cart, moving dustily
With idly clacking wheels
CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS (1860-1943)
Charles G.D. Roberts, like Archibald Lampman was the son of a clergyman. He led the way for the Confederation poets, inspiring both Lampman and Bliss Carman as they created indigenous poetry to describe the new country, Canada. The following are excerpts from two of his poems "The Potato Harvest", and "Canada".
“The Potato Harvest” (1886)
A high bare field, brown from the plough, and borne
Aslant from sunset; amber wastes of sky
Washing the ridge; a clamour of crows that fly
In from the wide flats where the spent tides mourn
To yon their rocking roosts in pines wind-torn;
A line of grey snake-fence, that zigzags by
A pond, and cattle; from the homestead nigh
The long deep summonings of the supper horn.
Black on the ridge, against that lonely flush,
A cart, and stoop-necked oxen; ranged beside
Some barrels; and the day-worn harvest-folk,
Here emptying their baskets, jar the hush
With hollow thunders. Down the dusk hillside
Lumbers the wain; and day fades out like smoke.
O Child of Nations, giant-limbed,
Who stand'st among the nations now
Unheeded, unadorned, unhymned,
With unanointed brow, --
How long the ignoble sloth, how long
The trust in greatness not thine own?
Surely the lion's brood is strong
To front the world alone!
How long the invalids, ere thou dare
Achieve thy destiny, seize thy fame, --
Ere our proud eyes behold thee bear
A nation's franchise, nation's name?
"Canada" (1886)
O Child of Nations, giant-limbed,
Who stand'st among the nations now
Unheeded, unadorned, unhymned,
With unanointed brow, --
How long the ignoble sloth, how long
The trust in greatness not thine own?
Surely the lion's brood is strong
To front the world alone!
How long the invalids, ere thou dare
Achieve thy destiny, seize thy fame, --
Ere our proud eyes behold thee bear
A nation's franchise, nation's name?
from A Country by Consent, copyright West/Dunn Productions MCMXCV - MMIV