Atwood, Margaret, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, Toronto: Anansi, 1972.

For those interested in the history and themes of Canadian literature, this is a must read. Novelist and poet Margaret Atwood provides not only an idiosyncratic thematic overview of Canadian literature but also her own polemics and manifestos on literature and the literary life.

Birney, Earle, David and Other Poems, Toronto: Ryerson, 1942.

Birney's first collection of poetry is also his best known and most widely praised. The collection contains "David," one of the most anthologized poems in Canadian literature, as well as "Vancouver Lights" and others. Most of the themes and many of the poetic techniques that Birney would develop throughout his career can be found here.

Cameron, Elspeth, Earle Birney: A Life, Toronto: Viking,1994.

Elspeth has written the definitive biography of Earle Birney. She uses Birney's volumnuous correspondence, notes, and his published and...