born July 14, 1912, Sherbrooke, Que., Can.
died Jan. 23, 1991, Toronto, Ont.
Canadian literary critic.
He was educated in Canada and Britain and from 1939 taught at Victoria College. In Anatomy of Criticism (1957), his most influential work, he analyzed various modes of literary criticism and stressed the recurring importance of archetypal symbols in literature. His other critical works include the influential Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (1947), The Well-Tempered Critic (1963), The Secular Scripture (1976), The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (1982), and Northrop Frye on Shakespeare (1986).