It is arranged according to the phases of the day (morning, afternoon, evening, the midway, and night) which deliberately align with the canonical hours[3] and the title alludes to the song written by Francis of Assisi, "Canticle of the Sun.

[7] Widely considered his best poem it marks the conclusion of the early, lyrical phase[8] of Lax's career before he started writing experimental, minimalist poetry.

After Henley Cay, Lax returned to his hometown of Olean, NY and set up in the basement of the library at St Bonaventure University and worked on the poem every day.

Eventually, Emil Antonucci, an artist who had made illustrations "The Circus of the Sun" offered to use the money he received from a Guggenheim grant to found Journeyman Press and publish the poem.

In the review McDonnell goes on to call the poem a "praise of creation" and sees in it Gabriel Marcel's "concept of man's nuptial bond with being.

Denise Levertov writing for The Nation called the poem "dreamlike and vivid" before drawing favorable comparisons to Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Kenedy wrote of "The sunset city..." section, "[it] must be one of the greatest poems in the English language" and called its rhythm "the most blood-curdling... yet devised by poet.

"[28] William Packard, writer and editor of New York Quarterly, called the effect of the poem "the same as... the first chapter of Genesis: there is movement and truth because there is order and purpose.