LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 22, 1819; graduated at Harvard, 1838; professor of _belles lettres_ at Harvard, 1855; editor _Atlantic Monthly_, 1857-62; editor _North American Review_, 1863-72; minister to Spain, 1877-80; minister to Great Britain, 1880-85; published "A Year's Life," 1841; "Vision of Sir Launfal," 1845; "A Fable for Critics," 1848; "The Biglow Papers," 1848; and many other collections of essays, criticisms, and poems; died at Cambridge, August 12, 1891. POE, EDGAR ALLAN. Born at Boston, January 19, 1809; entered University of Virginia, 1826; ran away from home, 1827; published "Tamerlane and Other Poems, by a Bostonian," 1827; enlisted in the army as Edgar A. Perry, rising to rank of sergeant-major, 1829; entered West Point, July 1, 1830; dismissed, March 6, 1831; married Virginia Clemm, 1835, who died in 1847; published "Poems," 1831; "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque," 1840; died at Baltimore, October 7, 1849. WHITMAN, WALT OR WALTER. Born at West Hills, Long Island, May 31, 1819; a printer, carpenter, and journalist in early life; volunteered as army nurse, 1861; seized with hospital malaria, 1864; held government position at Washington, 1864-73; disabled by paralysis and removed to Camden, New Jersey, where he died, March 26, 1892. "Leaves of Grass," published originally in 1855, was many times revised, a final edition appearing in 1892. TAYLOR, BAYARD. Born at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825; apprenticed to a printer, 1842; travelled on foot through Europe, 1844-46; in Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, 1851-52; in India, China, and Japan, 1852-53; secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, 1862-63; minister to Berlin, 1878; died at Berlin, December 19, 1878. He published collections of poems and travel letters. STEDMAN, EDMUND CLARENCE. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833; entered Yale, 1839, leaving in junior year; was correspondent _New York World_, 1861-63; later became stockbroker in New York City, retiring only a short time before his death in New York, January 18, 1908. Published several collections of poems. ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY. Born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836; editor of _Every Saturday_, 1870-74; editor of _The Atlantic Monthly_, 1881-90; published "Bells," 1855; "Ballad of Baby Bell," 1856; and many other collections of poetry, together with several novels and collections of short stories; died March 19, 1907. FIELD, EUGENE. Born at St. Louis, Missouri, September 2, 1850; began newspaper work at age of twenty-three, and ten years later became associated with the _Chicago Daily News_, where most of his work appeared; his first book of verse, "A Little Book of Western Verse," was published in 1889, and a number of others followed; died at Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 1895.