Biographical notes are based on a synthesis of the information available in reference works such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, supplemented by my own observations about the periodical contributions of each figure.

Arnold, Matthew (1822–88) Arnold wrote most of his poetry by the age of thirty. His first success as a poet occurred while he was still a student at Rugby: he won the prize for English verse in 1840. Nine years later, Arnold published his first volume of poetry, The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems, under the pseudonym A. ‘Empedocles in Etna’ (considered by scholars to be his most accomplished long poem) followed in 1852. Best known for his periodical pieces on culture, Arnold rarely appeared in the periodical press as a poet. Arnold only appears once in the periodicals considered in this book, and he rarely appears in the Database of Victorian Periodical Poetry, which covers a slightly different set of periodicals. Source: Miles 1892–7, vol. 5: 85–102; Collini 2008.

Barrett Browning, Elizabeth (1806–61) Barrett Browning published in the periodical press throughout her career beginning with the New Monthly Magazine in 1821 and ending with the Cornhill in 1860s. For a discussion of Barrett Browning's contributions to the Cornhill, see Chapter 2 in this volume. Other periodical poems by Barrett Browning include ‘The Cry of the Children’ (published in the August 1843 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine) and ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point’ (published in the Liberty Bell, an American abolitionist gift book, for 1848). Source: Stone 2004; Brown et al. 2006.

Blackie, John Stuart (1809–95) Born in Scotland, Blackie was well-known as a scholar of German and Greek. He held several positions within the Scottish university system throughout the 1850s, including Greek chair at the University of Edinburgh. He was an advocate for education, participating in the movement to abolish the Test Act, which prevented those outside the Church of Scotland from holding chairs in Scottish universities, and he supported women's higher education. Walter Whyte argues that Blackie's popularity comes from his taste for ‘short lyrics [and] light, rollicking lays’ (in Miles 1892–7, vol. 4: 215).