Canadian modernist poet and author known for his poem "The Lake of Souls" and for his novel The Golden Time. He also published an autobiographical essay collection entitled A View from the Edge.
He left school at fourteen and worked as a millwright's apprentice and later, a tobacco farmer.
He was rejected for service in World War II because he suffered from a heart murmur.
He and his three brothers were raised in Ontario by an abusive, alcoholic father. In his adulthood, he married Marilla Standish.
He was influenced by the work of T.S. Eliot.
