In 1929 the author went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This book is an account of his life up until that 'bitter leave-taking': from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life.

When his fist album was released in 1967, the author was already well known in his native Canada as a poet and novelist, and in the United States as the writer behind Judy Collins' popular recording of 'Suzanne'. This book includes lyrics from that album, together with many of his classics, such as 'Suzanne', 'Joan of Arc' and 'The Chelsea Hotel'.

Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover's birthday, an epithalamion for your sister's wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government's housing policy, this book gives you the tools and the confidence to do so with enjoyable exercises, insights and simple step-by-step advice.

Beginning with an essay on the attributes that define a classic, this collection provides the author's criticism.

** Chosen as a New Statesman, Financial Times, Observer and Sunday Times Book of the Year **A riveting account of the making of T.