'This is the definitive collection of the work of a man many consider to be Canada's greatest poet. Marking the 25th anniversary of the publication of Irving Layton's first book, this new collected edition incorporates poetry from the old edition with his subsequent work. As well, it includes a number of previously unpublished pieces and a variety of key poems from earlier private publications that were not available in the earlier volume. This comprehensive collection, containing well over 600 peoms, also carries a new Introduction by Irving Layton, in which he sums his feelings about and approaches to peotry and life. It is the culmination of the long career of a prolific game.'-Publisher

A collection of fourteen poems about animals, from a laughing rooster and a joyous whale to a proud peacock and a cat named Runcible.

A new format reprint of one hundred poems. potency and tenderness The gratifying thing about reading his work now is that it grows with you. The older I get the more the poems reveal. I'm knocked out by the richness, the resonance, the generosity, the hard intelligence, the clarity, the passion, and above all else, the great, great aching tenderness, which remains very much a part of who he is and he means to me. Leonard Cohen a poetic mind of genuine dignity and power an unobstrusive mastery of technique. Northrop Frye When I first clapped my eyes on the poems of Irving Layton I let out a yell of joy With his vigour and abilities, who shall not say that Canada will not have produced one of the West's most famous poets? William Carlos Williams

`Don't let the title fool you; this is not a book of romanticDance with Desire chosen from across the span of his long career, Layton styles himself as a 20th-century Catullus, loving and hating with equal glee, given to passionate excesses and epigrammatic precision, utterly unconcerned with sweet nothings or political correctness. Layton is often charged with being too verbose, with having published far too many substandard poems, and having let his verse grow slack as he grew older. These are all valid criticisms, but they don't really apply to Dance with Desire since its very existence depends upon the excesses, embarrassments, and foolishness of the unstifled love that Layton celebrates.'

"With The Covenant Irving Layton takes up once more the controversial theme of his previous volume, For My Brother Jesus. Returning to the fray, he lays waste to his critics with the kind of impassioned eloquence and well-honed reason that have kept succeeding generations of readers in awe if his prodigious mind and craft. The Covenant extends Layton's earlier argument about the relationship between the Holocaust and Christianity; it is an attempt to humanize and to de-mystify Jesus Christ, and to show the difference between his true disciples and those whom Layton calls "Xians", the ones who have perverted the teachings of Christ. With prophetic fire, Layton roars forth his testimony in stanzas that ring with honesty, conviction, and truth. His genius flashes with similar intensity but contrasting mood in the many beautiful love lyrics and meditative poems that are interspersed throughout. The Covenant is a worthy successor to the long list of books that mark the progress and popularity of this major poet." -- From back cover.

Brian Trehearne provides an lyric introduction that explores the "voices" and "vision" of Layton's poetry, particularly the present collection. "`Fornalutx, ' the poem from which this volume takes its title, sets out the clash of joyful expectation and frustrated desire that lies at the heart of this late retrospective collection of the poems of Irving Layton ... The poem's bitter descent, with its rich epic overtones, may be taken as an emblem of Irving Layton's poetic vision and nature. In it is contained his instinc-tual readiness for joy and its persistent confounding by the sour earth on which he finds himself. Here is his willingness to damn; here too are his favoured symbols, twisted by a vile human nature into sources of suffering and confusion. Here is that striking casualness of tone that disguises the meticulous rhythmic expression of his poems. And here, too, is the self-irony that has generated his most successful and compelling poetry." from the Introduction

Book by Layton, Irving

Used book in good condition, due to its age it could contain normal signs of use