加拿大最著名诗人之一,阿奇博尔德·兰普曼(Archibald Lampman,1861-1899年),也是四位联邦诗人之一。兰普曼的诗大多都与自然和户外生活有关。其作品以优美的抒情色彩和观察力而闻名。兰普曼出生于安大略省的莫珀斯,1882年毕业于多伦多的三一学院。他先在学校执教了几个月,之后在渥太华邮政部门就职。他的处女作是《粟米之中》(Among the Millet)(1888年)。《诗集》(Collected Poems)1900年面世,年仅37岁。
Snow
White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly.
The road before me smooths and fills
Apace, and all about
The fences dwindle, and the hills
Are blotted slowly out;
The naked trees loom spectrally
Into the dim white sky.
The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods me round;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence everywhere.
Save when at lonely intervals
Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runners and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear;
The barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far a-field;
Then all is silent, and the snow
Falls, settling soft and slow.
The evening deepens, and the gray
Folds closer earth and sky;
The world seems shrouded far away;
Its noises sleep, and I,
As secret as yon buried stream,
Plod dumbly on, and dream.