James K. Baxter, one of New Zealand’ s greatest poets, began writing poetry when he was a seven-year-old pupil at Brighton Primary School. By the time his first book, Beyond the Palisade, was published when he was eighteen, he had written more than 600 poems. His life’ s work, contained in this four-volume set, runs to just over 3000 poems, more than half of which have never before been published. John Weir, a fellow poet, friend and confidant of Baxter, has achieved the Herculean task of sorting these into a coherent order, noting where poems have been reworked or repurposed, their possible inspirations and influences, and Baxter’ s own thoughts about his work. Baxter’ s poetry is rich with imagery and mythology, with themes of nature, religion, social commentary and human frailty. It ranges from the spiritual to the obscene, from simple children’ s rhymes and witty epigrams to epic ballads and sophisticated modernist works. He claimed the purpose of art was ‘ to provide a healthy and permanent element of rebellion’ , and that ‘ poetry should contain moral truth’ .