An entertaining collection of memoirs, historical and critical essays, letters, poems, and tributes--all honouring one of Canada's finest poets. Irving Layton was one of a handful of Canadian poets that led the charge, in the 1940s and 1950s, which pulled Canadian poetry, kicking and yelling, into the modern age. The freshness of Layton's poems struck a responsive chord; he was iconoclastic, controversial, opinionated, and bigger than life. His vigorous work became the inspiration for a generation of poets. This festschrift includes contributions by Jack McClelland, Ralph Gustafson, John Robert Colombo, Moses Znaimer, David Solway, Roy MacSkimming, Ann Diamond, Elspeth Cameron, Douglas Lochhead, Gary Geddes, Fred Cogswell, Mervin Butovsky, George Woodcock, Wynne Francis, Robert Creeley, and Raymond Souster. Raging Like a Fire honours Irving Layton and celebrates his great passion for literature, and life.