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Gothic romance

(Encyclopedia)Gothic romance, type of novel that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th cent. in England. Gothic romances were mysteries, often involving the supernatural and heavily tinged with horror, and the...

Trelawny, Edward John

(Encyclopedia)Trelawny, Edward John, 1792–1881, English adventurer. A friend of Byron and Shelley, he was at Livorno when Shelley was drowned, and later served with Byron in the Greek War of Independence. He wrot...

closet drama

(Encyclopedia)closet drama, a play that is meant to be read rather than performed. Precursors of the form existed in classical times. Plato's Apology is often regarded as tragic drama rather than philosophic dialog...

Peacock, Thomas Love

(Encyclopedia)Peacock, Thomas Love, 1785–1866, English novelist and poet. He was employed by the East India Company from 1819 to 1856, serving as its chief examiner the final 20 years. Peacock's novels, comic and...

Garnett, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Garnett, Richard, 1835–1906, English librarian and author. From 1851 until his retirement in 1899 he was connected with the British Museum, which he served with great distinction. Besides writing vo...

Dowden, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Dowden, Edward douˈdən [key], 1843–1913, English critic, b. Ireland. He is best known as a Shakespearean scholar and as a biographer of Shelley (1886). ...

Hunt, Leigh

(Encyclopedia)Hunt, Leigh (James Henry Leigh Hunt) lē [key], 1784–1859, English poet, critic, and journalist. He was a friend of the eminent literary men of his time, and his home was the gathering place for suc...

Viareggio

(Encyclopedia)Viareggio vēärĕdˈjō [key], city (1991 pop. 57,514), Tuscany, N central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is a fishing center and a fashionable beach resort. The body of the poet Shelley was cremat...

Bion

(Encyclopedia)Bion bīˈən [key], fl. 2d cent.? b.c., Greek bucolic poet, an imitator of Theocritus, b. Phlossa, near Smyrna. Only fragments of his work survive. The Lament for Adonis, attributed to him, was the m...

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