The book is divided in four sections: "Selected Poems," "The Strange and True Story of My Life with Billy the Kid," "In the Presence of the Sun: A Gathering of Shields," and "New Poems." These sections show a variety of forms, tones and content in the poetry and short stories. His early work is in syllabic poetry, which is based on a number of syllables per line, rather than on the structured meter of rhyme of traditional poetry. This form allowed him more freedom of expression than rigid meters imposed; additionally, some arrangements of this syllablic poetry resembles the rhythms of Indian verse translations and oral traditions.

Ivor Winters, Momaday's mentor at Stanford, focused him on morality and reason as central literary expressions, rather than the emotion, association and connotation of the Symbolists.

Winters also expected form and control, and insisted that form was not outside the aesthetic...