Edwin John Dove Pratt was a Canadian poet and academic whose often spare language displays vivid imagery while still employing rhyme, metrics, and blank verse. As a chronicler of the maritime crux of living between sea and land, in his early work Pratt captured the liminality between anthropological and natural concerns in Newfoundland community and livelihood. At the same time, he was instrumental in upholding and expanding the epic and narrative elements of the long poem form—in his larger works moving towards grand themes such as nationhood. He taught in the Department of English at Victoria College (University of Toronto) until his retirement in 1953 when he became Professor Emeritus. Pratt was a Literary Adviser to the Editorial Board of Acta Victoriana as well as a founder and the first editor of Canadian Poetry Magazine (1936–1942), and received many honours from Canadian literary and educational institutions in his career.