Born to Walter and Louise Garbutt Lee in Toronto in 1939, Dennis Lee is an almost archetypal Toronto poet of the Canadian nationalist type. But unlike many writers, he has always sought to enact his political beliefs in such public forums as the university and the publishing world. His impact upon the literary scene has therefore extended far beyond the reach of his poems, for he has been a major editor of others' writing as well as a founder of one of the most important new small presses of the late 1960s.

In the early 1960s Lee received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto, where he was influenced by Northrop Frye. He married Donna Youngblut in 1962 (they later divorced), taught for several years at Victoria College, and then, in an obvious attempt to put his political ideals into practice in the "real world," helped...