For seventy years, from Valley of Decision (1933) to The Bells of Saint Babel’s (2001), Allen Curnow's poetry was always on the move – from his early approaches to New Zealand identity and myth to later work concerned with the philosophical encounter between word and world. Curnow also played a major role in New Zealand life as editor, critic, commentator and anthologist, as well as a much-loved writer of light verse under the penname of Whim Wham. This is the definitive collection of work by New Zealand’s most distinguished poet.