The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse was first published in 1942 as Anthology of Canadian Poetry (English) under the Pelican Books imprint.
[citation needed] Edited by Canadian poet Ralph Gustafson, revised and expanded editions were published in 1958,[1] 1967 and 1984.
[citation needed] Writing on the 1958 edition in Books Abroad, A. L. McLeod called it a "comprehensive anthology", improving on the first edition with better representation of styles and inclusion of less well-known poems.
[2] In a 1975 biographical article for the journal Mosaic, Robin Skelton credited Gustafson with bringing modern Canadian poetry to world attention with the editions of the Book of Canadian Verse and also A Little Anthology of Canadian Verse (1943).
[3] Poets in the 1984 edition include: Milton Acorn - George Amabile - Patrick Anderson - Margaret Atwood - Margaret Avison - Alfred G. Bailey - Doug Beardsley - Earle Birney - bill bissett - George Bowering - Elizabeth Brewster - Robert Bringhurst - George Frederick Cameron - Wilfred Campbell - Bliss Carman - Leonard Cohen - Don Coles - Isabella Valancy Crawford - William Henry Drummond - Louis Dudek - R. G. Everson - Marya Fiamengo - Robert Finch - R. A. D. Ford - John Glassco - Oliver Goldsmith - Eldon Grier - Ralph Gustafson - Charles Heavysege - David Helwig - John Frederic Herbin - Pauline Johnson - George Johnston - George Jonas - D. G. Jones - Lionel Kearns - Leo Kennedy - A. M. Klein - Raymond Knister - Robert Kroetsch - Archibald Lampman - Patrick Lane - George T. Lanigan - Irving Layton - Dennis Lee - Douglas Le Pan - Kenneth Leslie - Charles Lillard - Dorothy Livesay - Malcolm Lowry - Pat Lowther - Gwendolyn MacEwen - Tom MacInnes - Jay Macpherson - Charles Mair - Eli Mandel - Tom Marshall - Seymour Mayne - John McCrae - Don McKay - Alexander McLachlan - George McWhirter - John Newlove - Alden Nowlan - Michael Ondaatje - P. K. Page - Marjorie Pickthall - E. J. Pratt - Al Purdy - James Reaney - Charles G. D. Roberts - Theodore Goodridge Roberts - Joe Rosenblatt - W. W. E. Ross - Charles Sangster - Duncan Campbell Scott - Frederick George Scott - F. R. Scott - Robert W. Service - Virna Sheard - Robin Skelton - A. J. M. Smith - David Solway - Raymond Souster - John Thompson - Peter Van Toorn - Miriam Waddington - Bertram Warr - Tom Wayman - Phyllis Webb - Anne Wilkinson