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William Edwin Collin

William Edwin Collin, literary critic (b at Oakenshaw, Eng 9 May 1893; d at London, Ont 21 Dec 1984). His The White Savannahs (1936, repr 1975), a modernist study of 9 Canadian poets, established him as a major Canadian critic. Collin applied the ideas of such writers as T.S.

Collin, William Edwin

William Edwin Collin, literary critic (b at Oakenshaw, Eng 9 May 1893; d at London, Ont 21 Dec 1984). His The White Savannahs (1936, repr 1975), a modernist study of 9 Canadian poets, established him as a major Canadian critic. Collin applied the ideas of such writers as T.S. Eliot, Sir James Frazer and the French Symbolists to Canadian poetry. A fine prose stylist, he also wrote a study of Paul-Jean Toulet and many articles and reviews, including from 1941 to 1956 the yearly review of French Canadian literature for the University of Toronto Quarterly.