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Damavand

(Encyclopedia)Damavand or Demavend both: dĕmˈəvĕnd [key], volcanic cone, 18,606 ft (5,671 m) high, in the Elburz range, N Iran. A permanently snow-covered volcano of recent geologic origin, it emits gases and s...

Claudian

(Encyclopedia)Claudian (Claudius Claudianus) klôdˈēən [key], c.370–c.404, last notable Latin classic poet. Probably born in Alexandria, he flourished at court under Arcadius and Honorius. Besides panegyrics, ...

Bayard, horse, in chivalric romance

(Encyclopedia)Bayard bäyärˈdō [key], in chivalric romance, a bay horse, remarkable for his spirit and for his unique ability to fit his size to his rider. He appears in the 12th-century French epic Renaud de Mo...

Brooks, Maria Gowen

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Maria Gowen gouˈən [key], 1795?–1845, American poet, b. Medford, Mass. Her first collection of verse, Judith, Esther, and Other Poems (1820), was praised by Southey, who named her “Maria...

Vergil

(Encyclopedia)Vergil or Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) both: vûrˈjil [key], 70 b.c.–19 b.c., Roman poet, b. Andes dist., near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul; the spelling Virgil is not found earlier than the 5th ce...

Menéndez Pidal, Ramón

(Encyclopedia)Menéndez Pidal, Ramón rämōnˈ mānānˈdĕth pēᵺälˈ [key], 1869–1968, Spanish scholar and philologist. Menéndez Pidal was a noted authority on Spanish epic literature and the Spanish langu...

Muses

(Encyclopedia)Muses, in Greek religion and mythology, patron goddesses of the arts, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Originally only three, they were later considered as nine. Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry a...

Antara

(Encyclopedia)Antara äntärˈä [key], fl. 600, Arab warrior and poet, celebrated in his own day as a hero because he rose from slave birth to be a tribal chief. His poetry is represented by one poem in the Mualla...

Doughty, Charles Montagu

(Encyclopedia)Doughty, Charles Montagu dōˈtē, douˈtē [key], 1843–1926, English author and traveler. He is best known for his Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888), describing his life among the Bedouins. Now cons...

Ducasse, Isidore

(Encyclopedia)Ducasse, Isidore ēzēdôrˈ dükäsˈ [key], 1846–70, French poet who wrote under the name Comte de Lautréamont, or simply Lautréamont. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, he moved to Paris in 1867, whe...