In metaphor there is an implicit comparison, a higher form by which presence in this world is made manifest through language. Pierre DesRuisseaux . . . practises that ellipse of metaphor in which I like to see the primal symbol, polished by the poet to a glittering point of excellence . . . Pierre DesRuisseaux's work abounds in such triumphs. No one now dares to talk seriously of the universe . . . It is by trusting to language -- not childish language, but the language of childhood -- and to the original state of the word that the poet intends to lay the foundation of his peaceable kingdom and restore the universe, giving it the appropriate form and rhythm for the truths he has to say, and, with convincing discipline, first capturing the reader's attention, then inspiring fervour.
