General's Award in 1942. The title work, "a poem about euthanasia, became quite a controversial poem, frequently anthologized and taught in Canadian literature courses." "A generation of Canadian schoolchildren and university students has grown up knowing the story," Al Purdy wrote in 1974. "At one time or another in the last 25 years, "David" has been required reading for high schools and universities in every Canadian province." His second book of poetry, Now Is Time, won Birney a second Governor General's Award in 1945. By the time of Birney's Trial of a City and other Verse in 1952, literary critic Northrop Frye was calling him one of "Canada's two leading poets" (the other being E. J. Pratt). The Royal Society of Canada awarded Birney its Lorne Pierce Medal for literature in 1953. In the mid-1960s Birney collaborated with electronic composer Terry Rusling on CBC Radio. A poem was performed combined with electronic music and afterwards they discussed their respective work and experimental approaches. Birney's typography became increasingly more experimental during the 1960s, and in his 1966 Selected Poems he revised many of his older poems, dropping punctuation and sentence structure. He explained his reasoning in the preface to that book: In 1970 Birney was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1974, Birney was still being called "one of the two best poets in Canada," this time by Al Purdy (the other being Irving Layton). In 1982 Birney recorded Nexus & Earle Birney, a triple-album collaboration with avant-garde percussion group Nexus. The Canadian Encyclopedia sums up: "In long poems and lyrics, sight poems, sound poems and found poems, whether on the page or in his collection of recorded poems with the percussion ensemble NEXUS (1982), Birney demonstrated his deep commitment to making language have meaning in every possible and eloquent way." Publications Poetry David and Other Poems. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1942. Now Is Time. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1945. The Strait of Anian. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1948. Trial of a City and Other Verse. Toronto: Ryerson, 1952. Ice Cod Bell or Stone. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1962. Near False Creek Mouth. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964. Two Poems. Halifax, 1964. Selected Poems: 1940–1966. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1966. Memory No Servant, 1968. The Poems of Earle Birney: a New Canadian Library selection (New Canadian library original N06), Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969. pnomes jukollages & other stunzas, 1969. Rag