Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet and biographer. Née Cohen. Pseudonym: “Claude Lake.” Born in Mannheim, Germany. After her father died in her infancy she took the surname of her mother’s second husband, the political writer and revolutionary Karl Blind. Family fled to London to avoid suppression of insurrections. The family home in Hampstead hosted refugees such as Garibaldi and Mazzini. Took a solitary walking tour of the Swiss Alps (1859). Part of a group of female writers that included Mona Caird, Violet Paget, Amy Levy, Olive Schreiner, and Augusta Webster. Lived briefly with Ford Madox Brown in the 1880s. Travelled extensively, including to Scotland and Egypt. Author of several poetry volumes including Poems (1867), Songs and Sonnets (1893), and collected in The Poetical Works of Mathilde Blind (1897). Biographical information: ODNB. (JS)