F.R. Scott is one of the most remarkable Canadians of his generation. His is a poet - most notably a satirical one - whose anger and impudence have for forty years deflated the pompous, shocked the complacent, and castigated the greedy. He is a lawyer who has vigorously opposed censorship and defended civil rights, and whose knowledge of the law is equalled by his passion for justice; and he is a political and social philosopher who helped form the CCF and New Democratic Parties, and who is now a member of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Readers who have been moved and entertained by his poetry in previous books and in innumerable journals will welcome this bringing together of his best work in one volume. Readers new to his work (if there are any in Canada) will discover a rare combination of wit, intellect, and compassion - 'an informed mind perfectly co-ordinated with a civilized heart.'

"Leaving the Shade of the Middle Ground" contains thirty-five of F.R. Scott's poems from across the five decades of his career. Scott's artistic responses to a litany of social problems, as well as his emphasis on nature and landscapes, remain remarkably relevant. Scott weighed in on many issues important to Canadians today, using different terms, perhaps, but with no less urgency than we feel now: biopolitics, neoliberalism, environmental concerns, genetic modification, freedom of speech, civil rights, human rights, and immigration. Scott is best remembered for "The Canadian Authors Meet," "W.L.M.K," and "Laurentian Shield," but his poetic oeuvre includes significant occasional poems, elegies, found poems, and pointed satires. This selection of poems showcases the politics, the humour, and the beauty of this central modernist figure.

The introduction by Laura Moss and the afterword by George Elliott Clarke provide two distinct approaches to reading Scott's work: in the contexts of Canadian modernism and of contemporary literary history, respectively.