Irving Layton
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Irving Layton OC (born March 12, 1912) is a Canadian poet.
Born Israel Pincu Lazarovitch in a small village in Romania to Jewish parents, his family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec in 1913 and they settled in the vibrant Jewish section of that city. Layton vigorously pursued his education, eventually receiving a degree in Agricultural sciences from MacDonald College in 1939. His true interest was poetry, however. Layton read Tennyson and Shelly from an early age and moved through the other great authors throughout his youth. He travelled throughout Canada doing odd jobs, and in 1942 joined the army and became an officer at CFB Petawawa.
Layton eventually became a teacher, first at a Montreal Jewish High School, and then as a political science professor at Sir George Williams University. Layton had become a strong socialist while at university and became active in the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. Because of this activity he was blacklisted and banned from entering the United States for the next two decades.
Layton's activism and poetry had made him an internationally known celebrity by the 1950s and he was a fixture on early Canadian television. He travelled widely abroad and became especially popular in South Korea and Italy, and in 1981 these two nations nominated him for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He did not win, but was honored by the nomination. In 1976 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Layton today lives in retirement in Montreal.
Works
- Now Is The Place - 1948
- The Black Huntsmen: Poems - 1951
- Love the Conqueror Worm - 1953
- The Long Pea-Shooter - 1954
- In the Midst of My Fever - 1954
- The Blue Propeller - 1955
- The Cold Green Element - 1955
- The Bull Calf and Other Poems - 1956
- The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems - 1956
- Music on a Kaxoo - 1956
- A Laughter in the Mind - 1959
- A Red Carpet for the Cun - 1960
- The Swinging Flesh - 1961
- Balls for a One-Armed Juggler - 1963
- The Laughing Rooster - 1964
- Collected Poems - 1965
- Periods of the Moon: Poems - 1967
- The Shattered Plinths - 1968
- Selected Poems - 1969
- The Whole Bloody Bird - 1969
- Poems to Color - 1970
- Nailpolish - 1971
- The Collected Poems of Irving Layton - 1971
- Lovers and Lesser Men - 1972
- The Pole-Vaulter - 1974
- Seventy-five Greek Poems, 1951-1974 - 1974
- The Darkening Fire: Selected Poems, 1945-1968 - 1975
- The Unwavering Eye: Selected Poems, 1969-1975 - 1975
- The Uncollected Poems of Irving Layton: 1936-59 - 1976
- For my Brother Jesus - 1976
- The Selected Poems of Irving Layton - 1977
- The Covenant - 1977
- The Tightrope Dancer - 1979
- Droppings from Heaven - 1979
- For My Neighbours in Hell - 1980
- Europe And Other Bad News - 1981
- A Wild Peculiar Joy: Selected Poems, 1945-82 - 1982
- Shadows on the Ground: A Portfolio - 1982
- The Gucci Bag - 1983
- The Love Poems of Irving Layton: With Reverence & Delight - 1984
- Fortunate Exile - 1987
- Final Reckoning: Poems, 1982-1986 - 1987
- Dance With Desire: Selected Love Poems - 1992
- Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD Canadian Poetry Association - 1999