Fisher, Dorothy Canfield (1879-1958). American novelist; educational and social reformer. Dorothy Canfield and Willa Cather became friends in 1891 at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where Canfield's father, James Canfield, had come to serve as Chancellor. The family moved to Columbus, OH, in 1895 when James Canfield assumed the presidency of Ohio State University, from which Dorothy graduated in 1899. She then followed her father to New York City, where he became Librarian of Columbia University, and she pursued graduate study in Romance Languages at the University of Paris and Columbia, from which she earned a PhD in 1904. On Cather’s first trip to Europe, she spent time in France and England with Canfield, including an awkward visit to the home of poet A.E. Housman. Cather derived the central character of “The Profile” (1907) from Canfield’s friend Evelyn Osborne, whom Cather had met in Europe. Cather and Canfield became estranged for more than a decade because Canfield objected to the story’s planned inclusion in The Troll Garden (1905). Canfield married John Redwood Fisher in 1907, and their primary residence was Arlington, VT. Canfield Fisher had spent 1916-1918 in France engaging in war relief work, and Cather’s consultation with her about the accuracy of her depiction of wartime France in One of Ours (1922) led them to reconcile. In 1925 Canfield Fisher became a founding member of the Book of the Month Club selection committee. She published her novels (most of them very popular) under the name Dorothy Canfield but her various nonfiction works as Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Housman, Alfred Edward (1859-1936) (“A. E.”). British poet and scholar. Born in Worcestershire, England, the eldest son of a solicitor and his wife, Housman won a scholarship in 1877 to St. John’s College, Oxford University, where he studied classics. Although he was a promising scholar, he failed to obtain his degree and took a job at the patent office in London. He continued as an independent scholar, and the brilliance of his work led to his appointment in 1892 as professor of Latin at University College, London, and in 1911 to Trinity College, Cambridge. He published A Shropshire Lad (1896), his most famous collection of poems, at his own expense, but its reputation steadily increased. Cather discovered Housman’s poems soon after they appeared in the U.S., and they influenced much of her early poetry. Shropshire was one of the first destinations on her European trip in 1902, and Housman was one of the people she most wanted to meet. The meeting was awkward and became the subject of speculation and stories by others in later years.

Sidney, Philip (1554–1586). English writer, politician, and soldier. Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Oxford University, Sidney traveled throughout Europe before returning to England where he was active in politics. His poetry and criticism, including Asphodel and Stella and The Defence of Poetry, are considered key works of the Elizabethan period. He died of an injury suffered in battle when he was only thirty-one.

Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Queen of England. Ruling from 1558 until her death, Elizabeth I's rule was more tolerant and moderate than her predecessors. The decades of her reign, known as the "Elizabethan" period in England, is famous for the cultural renaissance in literature and music, relative internal peace and stability, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada.