Romanian-born poet, who treated the Jewish Canadian experience with rebellious vigour.

Layton's family immigrated to Canada in 1913. He attended Macdonald College (B.Sc., 1939) and McGill University (M.A., 1946). After serving in the Canadian Air Force during World War II, he worked as a teacher and lecturer in Montreal from 1945 to 1960 and later was professor of literature (1970–78) at York University in Toronto.

Layton's poems, lyrical and romantic in tone and classical in form, developed from the early descriptive poetry collected in Here and Now (1945) and Now Is the Place (1948) into the tough and denunciatory expressions of his hatred of the bourgeoisie and all other enemies of spontaneity contained in In the Midst of My Fever (1954) and The Cold Green Element (1955). Often controversial, he believed that poets should “disturb and discomfort” readers. He later turned from social satire to concern for the universal human condition—e.g., A Red Carpet for the Sun (1959), The Swinging Flesh (1961), Balls for a One-Armed Juggler (1963), For My Brother Jesus (1976), For My Neighbours in Hell (1980), and Europe and Other Bad News (1981). Collected Poems (1965) was revised in 1971. He also published volumes of prose containing assortments of essays, stories, and letters, including Engagements (1972) and Taking Sides (1978).