Watchful Dream and Sweet Unrest: An Essay On the Vision of Archibald Lampman

It is necessary to recognize Lampman's humanitarianism in order to appreciate the ironies in some of his poems, such as "Among the Millet," "The Frogs," and "Freedom." A careful reading will suggest that he is not a pastoral poet, but, rather, one who tends to lament the absence of pastoral reflection. The "bower of bliss," in fact, is misleading, seducing us out of our vital day-to-day existence. "The world of men" is our proper place, whatever sympathy can be engendered in us by the natural world. Lampman conceived of the poet's vocation as an idealistic and purposeful movement to and from, from and to nature and society