John Glassco Selected Poems with Three Notes on the Poetic Process

For this collection John Glassco won the Governor General’s Award in 1971. He intended it as a definitive selection of his best poetry which includes his frequently anthologized poems such as "The Death of Don Quixote", "Brummell at Calais", "Needham Cemetery" and "Quebec Farmhouse".

Glassco’s original selection is presented here in its entirety with additional material and excerpts drawn from his later published work and his translations, together with three short prose pieces dealing with the poetic process, poetry readings and the art of translation.

A craftsman of unusual care, Glassco was known for his sensitivity and wit as well as for his forthright treatment of love, the nostalgia occasioned by the passage of time and the loss of that which we cherish.

John Glassco (1909-1981) came from an established Montreal family, and lived the better part of his life near the village of Foster in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He was a distinguished poet, novelist, essayist and translator -- the Glassco prize for translation was named after him. His works include the widely acclaimed Memoirs of Montparnasse, A Point of Sky, The Fatal Woman, and Selected Poems for which he won the Governor General's Award.

Michael Gnarowski co-edited The Making of Modern Poetry in Canada, compiled The Concise Bibliography of English Canadian Literature, and edited the Critical Views on Canadian Writers series for McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Gnarowski is professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa.