Educated at Stanstead Wesleyan College, Scott joined the civil service shortly after graduating. Over the ensuing decades he rose through the ranks of the department of Indian Affairs until he became the deputy superintendent in 1923. Scott began to write poetry in the 1880s and published a number of poems in Scribner's. In 1893, The Magic House and Other Poems was published; Scott's first book of poetry was a great success and he followed over the next few years with seven additional volumes of verse. In 1899, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Scott also published a number of volumes of short stories, but his lone novel remained unpublished at his death. He also produced a play, two biographies and many essays. He is considered by many to be one of the most important figures in Canadian literature. His works include In the Village of Viger (1896), Labor and the Angel (1898), New World Lyrics and Ballads (1905), John Graves Simcoe (1905), Via Borealis (1906), Lundy's Lane and Other Poems (1916), Beauty and Life (1921), The Witching of Elspie (1923), The Poems of Duncan Campbell Scott (1926), The Green Cloister (1935), The Circle of Affection and Other Pieces in Prose and Verse (1947) and Walter J. Phillips (1947). |
