A. C. Bradley was born in Cheltenham in 1851, the son of a clergyman. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied classics. He first taught literature at Liverpool University, then in 1889 became professor of English language and literature at Glasgow. From 1901 to 1906 he was professor of poetry at Oxford University. His lectures appeared in book form as Shakespearean Tragedy in 1904, and five years later he published Oxford Lectures on Poetry, which includes a memorable one on Antony and Cleopatra. A. C. Bradley died in 1935.

John Bayley is a former Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and is the author of books on Tolstoy, Hardy, and Housman. He has also written several novels and a memoir, Elegy for Iris.