'Before his death five years ago in April, Les Murray was widely considered Australia’s leading poet and among the world’s most significant. He published 38 collections of poetry along with books of essays on art, poetry and culture. The garlands laid upon him by critics and fellow poets included ‘the custodian of Australia’s soul’, ‘the one by whom the language lives', and a panoptic visionary who enhanced Australia’s international literary standing and sought to shape the nation’s destiny.' (Introduction)