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Bowdler, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bowdler, Thomas boudˈlər, bōdˈ– [key], 1754–1825, English editor. He is best known for his Family Shakespeare (10 vol., 1818), an expurgated edition for family reading that, although attacked ...

Vörösmarty, Mihály

(Encyclopedia)Vörösmarty, Mihály mĭˈhälyə vöˈröshmŏrˌtē [key], 1800–1855, Hungarian poet. Considered one of the greatest Hungarian poets, he created a new poetic language and combined the characteris...

Tate, Nahum

(Encyclopedia)Tate, Nahum nāˈhəm [key], 1652–1715, English poet and dramatist, b. Dublin. He wrote several popular adaptations of Shakespeare, the most famous being his King Lear (1681), in which he omitted th...

Lucrece

(Encyclopedia)Lucrece lo͞okrēˈshə [key], in Roman legend, Roman matron, illustrious for her virtue. She was the victim of rape by Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus. Having enjoined her husband, Lucius Tarquini...

North, George

(Encyclopedia)North, George, fl. 1561–81, English gentleman, man of letters, and diplomat. A minor figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, he served as an ambassador to Sweden in 1564 and translated or adapted ...

Coriolanus

(Encyclopedia)Coriolanus (Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus) kôrˌēəlāˈnəs [key], Roman patrician. He is said to have derived his name from the capture of the Volscian city Corioli. According to legend he was expelle...

Redgrave

(Encyclopedia)Redgrave, family of English actors. Sir Michael Redgrave, 1908–85, b. Bristol, Eng., was an actor, director, and writer. After his first professional performance in Counsellor-at-Law (1934), he appe...

Baker, George Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Baker, George Pierce, 1866–1935, American educator, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Harvard, 1887. He taught (1888–1924) in the English department at Harvard and there conceived and instituted (1906) t...

Olson, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Olson, Charles, 1910–70, American critic and poet, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1932; M.A., 1933). His literary reputation was established with Call Me Ishmael (1947), a study of the in...

pentameter

(Encyclopedia)pentameter pĕntămˈətər [key] [Gr.,=measure of five], in prosody, a line to be scanned in five feet (see versification). The third line of Thomas Nashe's “Spring” is in pentameter: “Cold dot...
 

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