Alden Nowlan's Collected Poems

Alden Nowlan (1933-1983) once expressed a desire to leave behind "one poem, one story / that will tell what it was like / to be alive." With an abundance of memorable poems, he fulfilled this desire with candor and subtlety, emotion, and humor, sympathy and truth-telling. Nowlan has been one of Canada's most-read and beloved poets for many years, and now the true range of his poetic achievement is finally available between two covers with the publication of Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan. Nowlan takes us from the nightmarish precincts of fear and solitude to the embrace of friendship and family. His poetry delves into experiences of violence and gentleness, of alienation and love, revealing our shared humanity as well as our perplexing and sometimes entertaining differences. Nowlan's childhood and adult years are colorfully reflected in his poetry, interwoven with fantasies, an astute historical consciousness, and a keen awareness of the shiftings and transformations of selfhood. Nowlan wrote with formal variety, visually shaping his poems with a dexterity that complicates the impression that he was primarily a "plainspoken" poet. His varied uses of the poetic line, including his handling of line-lengths and breaks, stanzas, and pauses, show him to be a writer who skillfully uses the page to suggest and embody the rhythms of speech. This long-awaited volume enables readers to experience his poetic genius in its fullness and uniqueness.

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