I must confess that for the past three or four years I've been unable to read anything by Irving Layton, at any rate not without a certain feeling of sour taste and acid indigestion. Whether this comes of prejudice as Layton himself tells me, or of something in the poetry, I cannot be sure. For years I was his champion against the deaf and myopic critics in Canada, insisting that he was a vigorous realistic poet who deserved recognition. Today everyone is ready to admit that Layton is much better than the critics gave credit for in 1950…. In fact he is universally hailed as "the most powerful Canadian poet", and no one seems inclined to dissent from the chorus of unanimous praise. Layton, it seems, has graduated from Canada's most neglected poet to the most over-rated poet anywhere. (p. 136)

I think still that Layton is every bit as...