Arthur Wentworth Eaton

Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton (1849-1937) was a Canadian poet.

Life
Arthur Eaton was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, the son of Anna Augusta Hamilton and William Eaton. He attended Dalhousie College, Halifax, and Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1880 (in the same class as Theodore Roosevelt. He was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1884, and a priest in 1885.

Eaton served for some years as a professor in New York, gaining a reputation in academic circles. He wrote and published several historical works, and several volumes of poetry.

Writing
New York Tribune: "Mr. Eaton's 'Acadian Legends' are characterized by melody, pathos, a strong feeling for nature, and refined taste. The spirit of Evangeline's country has been absorbed by the poet, who celebrates the Gaspereau and all the region round about with a tender melancholy fitted to the scene and its associations. He has caught the old world atmosphere which surrounds and mellows that beautiful land, and has given to his verse a softness and repose which are in perfect keeping with the subject."

Sir Charles G.D. Roberts: "These verses are direct, unstrained, natural, and always simple in form and motive. There is much easy melody, much tenderness of mood, much faithful and effective description. In the 'Acadian Legends' Mr. Eaton may be said to revive that pleasant art that has long been in disuse, the art of telling a not very striking story in verse, and adding an evasive grace which persuades one that the tale was worth telling. The 'Lyrics' are human and wholesome, almost without exception, and improve on close acquaintance."

Recognition
Eaton was made an honorary Doctor of Civil Law by the University of King's College in 1905.

Poetry

 * Acadian Legends and Lyrics. London, New York: White & Allen, 1889; New York, Stokes, 1891.
 * Acadian ballads and De Soto's last dream. New York T. Whittaker, 1905.
 * Poems of the Christian year. New York, T. Whittaker, 1905.
 * The lotus of the Nile, and other poems. New York, Whittaker, 1906.

Non-fiction

 * Genealogical sketch of the Nova Scotia Eatons. Halifax, N.S. Printed at the Morning Herald Office, 1885.
 * The heart of the creeds: historical religion in the light of modern thought. New York, London, G.P. Putnam's sons, 1888.
 * The Church of England in Nova Scotia and the Tory clergy of the revolution. New York : T. Whittaker, 1891.
 * Tales of a Garrison Town (with Craven Langstroth Betts). New York and St. Paul: D.D. Merrill, 1892.
 * College requirements in English entrance examinations. Boston, Ginn & company, 1892.
 * The history of Kings County, Nova Scotia, heart of the Acadian land. Salem, MA: The Salem press company, 1910.
 * The famous Mather Byles, the noted Boston Tory preacher, poet, and wit, 1707-1788. (Illustrated with many engravings from original paintings by Copley, the Pelhams and others). Boston, W.A. Butterfield, 1914.
 * The Eaton family of Nova Scotia, 1760-1929. [Cambridge, MA: The Murray Printing Co.] Privately. printed, 1929.

Edited

 * Elizabeth Lichtenstein Johnston. Recollections of a Georgia Loyalist (written in 1836). New York and London: M. F. Mansfield and Co., 1901.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Online Books Page.