Through archival and private sources, many previously untapped, Richard Lemm connects Acorn's self-perpetuated image as a working-class rebel, and his peculiar brand of communism, to his employment history and experience of war. The poet's troubled relationships with family members, his wife - writer Gwendolyn MacEwan - lovers, other writers and friends, and his chronic ill-health are all explored as sources of both personal pain and inspiration.