articlesforchristians

SANGSTER, CHARLES, poet, civil servant, and journalist; b. 16 July 1822 near Kingston, Upper Canada, son of James Sangster and Ann Ross; m. first 16 Sept. 1856 Mary Kilborn (d. 1858) in Kingston; m. secondly 30 Oct. 1860 Henrietta Charlotte Meagher at Niagara Falls, and they had three daughters and one son; d. 9 Dec. 1893 in Kingston.

Quiet and introspective by nature, Charles Sangster sought harmony in his connections with others and spiritual fulfillment through God’s will. Yet his life was marked by a string of misfortunes that, after the mid-1860s, brought anxiety, uneven literary output, and ultimately a nervous breakdown. Recognizing these contradictions and their influence on his work inspires respect for an artist wholly devoted to poetry. His talent stood out in colonial Canadian literature, earning praise from readers and critics of his era.

Sangster’s life played out mostly within the stretch from Kingston to Ottawa, with trips to visit family and friends taking him as far as Montreal, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo, N.Y. Ironically, his imagination traveled far beyond these borders, carrying him across the globe. Gentle and reserved on the outside, his poetry revealed deep emotions and personal struggles. In a note to his friend and literary executor William Douw Lighthall, he called himself “a self-made and pretty much a self-taught man,” yet his work showed a wide-ranging knowledge of geography, history, literature, science, and the events of his time.

Poems:

• Little Jack Frost