Edmund William Gosse was born in 1849, the son of zoologist Philip Henry Gosse. In 1870 he co-authored Madrigals, Songs and Sonnets with John Blaikie. As well as composing poetry, which was published as Collected Poems in 1911, Gosse's passion for reading led him to study European literature, and he introduced Ibsen to the English public. In 1879 he published his Literature of Northern Europe, which established him as an expert on Scandanavian and Dutch literature. He also wrote numerous biographies of literary notables including John Donne, as well as a biography of his father. Father and Son was published anonymously in 1907. He was knighted in 1925, awarded the French Legion d'honneur in the same year, and received numerous honorary doctorates from various European universities. He died in 1928.
