When Dudek selected and arranged the poems in this book he intended this to be the "definitive" collection of his poems. This contains selections from 20 of his previous book between 1944 and 1997.

Louis Dudek … prolific poet, critic and literary activist … has had a long and distinguished career as one of Canada’s major writers.

Louis Dudek is a poet, editor, teacher, publisher, translator, and critic. His parents emigrated from Poland before WWII, and Dudek grew up in the French East End of Montreal. He graduated from McGill in 1939, and then obtained his PhD from Columbia University in New York. In 1944 he was included in a collection entitled Unit of Five, which included the work of Raymond Souster, PK Page, James Wreford and Ronald Humbleton who served as editor. In 1946, Dudek published his first solo collection, East of the City, setting the work in his childhood. In 1951, he joined the faculty of McGill, lecturing in modern poetry. He remained on faculty as Greenshields Professor of English until 1984, when he became Professor Emeritus. As a critic, teacher and theoretician, Dudek influenced the teaching of Canadian poetry in most schoolsand universities. As a publisher, critic and mentor of many poets, he directly influenced the lives and careers of numerous authors and has had a profound effect on the evolution of Canadian literature.