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Poe, Edgar Allan

(Encyclopedia)Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–49, American poet, short-story writer, and critic, b. Boston. He is acknowledged today as one of the most brilliant and original writers in American literature. His skillfully...

Griswold, Rufus Wilmot

(Encyclopedia)Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815–57, American editor, b. Benson, Vt. He was influential as editor of Graham's Magazine (1842–43) and the International Monthly Magazine (1850–52) and as anthologist o...

Whitman, Sarah Helen (Power)

(Encyclopedia)Whitman, Sarah Helen (Power), 1803–78, American poet, b. Providence, R.I. In 1828 she married a Boston lawyer, John W. Whitman; after his death (1833) she returned to Providence and devoted herself ...

Moskenstraumen

(Encyclopedia)Moskenstraumen mālˈstrəm [key], tidewater whirlpool in the Lofoten Islands, NW Norway. Formed when tidal currents flow through coastal fjords and a maze of small islands, it is c.2.5 mi (4 km) wide...

Woodberry, George Edward

(Encyclopedia)Woodberry, George Edward, 1855–1930, American poet, critic, and teacher, b. Beverly, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1877. He was professor of English at the Univ. of Nebraska (1880–82) and at Columbia (189...

Allen, Hervey

(Encyclopedia)Allen, Hervey, 1889–1949, American novelist and poet, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1915. After service in World War I, he taught English in Charleston, S.C., where, in collaboration wit...

laudanum

(Encyclopedia)laudanum lôdˈənəm [key], tincture, or alcoholic solution, of opium, first compounded by Paracelsus in the 16th cent. Not then known to be addictive, the preparation was widely used up through the ...

Vierge, Daniel Urrabieta

(Encyclopedia)Vierge, Daniel Urrabieta dänyĕlˈ o͞oräbyāˈtä vyārˈhā [key], 1851–1904, Spanish illustrator. He went to Paris before 1870 and won recognition for his drawings of scenes of the Commune of P...

King, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)King, Stephen, 1947–, American writer, b. Portland, Maine. Influenced by the 19th-century Gothic tradition, especially the works of Poe, King's fiction reveals the macabre and horrific potential of ...

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