The most popular Canadian poet and song-writer of the 1960s, Leonard Cohen celebrates the personal, historical, and sexual in writing that combines the style of the ballad with the language of myth. Believing that art imprisons the imagination, Cohen creates works of tension and energy that embody his concept of poetry as "a verdict not an occupation." Consequently, his earliest poetry concentrates on the conflict between opposites: guilt versus sexual freedom, violence versus beauty, love versus loss. His later work, however, shifts to more social and historical issues, such as human suffering in the twentieth century and the mythic past. Most recently, his writing reflects a personal and intense sense of loneliness and misery. But linking these shifts is Cohen's belief that he is "a teacher of the heart," one who strives to help others achieve new identities through the unification of religion and history, sex and sanctity...