John Desmond Peter (1921–1983) was a South African–Canadian English-literature scholar, essayist, and novelist.
Peter came to Canada in 1950 and taught English at the University of Manitoba for eleven years.
He joined the Victoria College Department of English in 1961.
He was co-founder, with Robin Skelton, of the literary magazine Malahat Review.
Eliot's poem as an elegy for a dead (male) friend, Jean Verdenal.