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Blake, William

(Encyclopedia)Blake, William, 1757–1827, English poet and artist, b. London. Although he exerted a great influence on English romanticism, Blake defies characterization by school, movement, or even period. At the...

Kuiper, Gerard Peter

(Encyclopedia)Kuiper, Gerard Peter or Gerrit Pieter gĕrˈĭt pēˈtər kīˈpər [key], 1905–73, American astronomer, b. the Netherlands. Kuiper is considered to be the father of modern planetary science for his...

astronaut

(Encyclopedia)astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, a...

Cyrene

(Encyclopedia)Cyrene sīrēˈnē [key], ancient city near the northern coast of Africa, in Cyrenaica (now E Libya). It was a Greek colony founded (c.630 b.c.) by Aristoteles of Thera, who became king of Cyrene as B...

angel

(Encyclopedia)angel ānˈjəl [key], [Gr.,=messenger], bodiless, immortal spirit, limited in knowledge and power, accepted in the traditional belief of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and other religions. Angels a...

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...

theory

(Encyclopedia)theory, in music, discipline involving the construction of cognitive systems to be used as a tool for comprehending musical compositions. The discipline is subdivided into what can be called speculati...

Ackroyd, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ackroyd, Peter, 1949–, British author, b. London; studied Clare College, Cambridge (M.A., 1971) and Yale. A literary journalist, he wrote for the Spectator (1973–82), where he was literary and the...

ode

(Encyclopedia)ode, elaborate and stately lyric poem of some length. The ode dates back to the Greek choral songs that were sung and danced at public events and celebrations. The Greek odes of Pindar, which were mod...

Tasso, Torquato

(Encyclopedia)Tasso, Torquato tōrkwäˈtō täsˈsō [key], 1544–95, Italian poet, one of the foremost writers and a tragic figure of the Renaissance. Educated in Naples by Jesuits, he later studied law and phil...