In the first major biography of Milton Acorn, the voice of one of Canada's leading poets resounds across the years since it was raised, impassioned and protesting, in the 1960s and 1970s. This study traces Acorn's essential patriotism to his roots in Prince Edward Island and shows that family, landscape, and the troubled shades of postcolonial society were continuous spurs to his creative life.

Through archival and private sources, many previously untapped, the author connects Acorn's self-perpetuated image as a working-class rebel, and his peculiar brand of communism, to his employment history and experience of war. The poet's troubled relationships with family members, wife - writer Gwendolyn MacEwan, lovers, other writers and friends, and his chronic ill-health are explored as sources both of personal pain and inspiration.

This is a warts-and-all portrait of the only writer ever to be honoured by his peers as "The People's Poet of Canada."