The White Savannahs, originally published in 1936, is the first study of Canadian poetry from a modern point of view. It contains essays on Archibald Lampman, Marjorie Pickthall, E.J. Pratt, Leo Kennedy, A.M. Klein, A.J.M. Smith, F.R. Scott, Marie Le Franc, and Dorothy Livesay. The contributions are based on a series of analytical essays originally published in the Canadian Forum and in the University of Toronto Quarterly. Professor Collin's work added much to the establishment of a new climate of opinion among readers and publishers of poetry in Canada.

W.E. Collin was a professor of romance languages at the University of Western Ontario from 1925 until his retirement in 1959.

W.E. Collin's profile page

In the spring of 2001, Douglas Lochhead received the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in English-language Literary Arts from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, Professor Emeritus at Mount Allison University, Senior Fellow and Founding Librarian at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a life member of the League of Canadian Poets. After beginning his career as an advertising copywriter, he became a librarian, a professor of English, a specialist in typography and fine hand printing, and a bibliographer, scholar, and editor — indeed, he has characterized himself as “an unrepentant generalist.” At Mount Allison University, he was a founder and the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, and he held the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies.

Douglas Lochhead's profile page

Germaine Warkentin is a professor emerita of the Department of English at Victoria College, University of Toronto.

Germaine Warkentin's profile page