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Barber, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Barber, Samuel, 1910–81, American composer, b. West Chester, Pa. Barber studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. His music is lyrical and generally tonal; his later works are more chr...

elegy

(Encyclopedia)elegy, in Greek and Roman poetry, a poem written in elegiac verse (i.e., couplets consisting of a hexameter line followed by a pentameter line). The form dates back to 7th cent. b.c. in Greece and poe...

free verse

(Encyclopedia)free verse, term loosely used for rhymed or unrhymed verse made free of conventional and traditional limitations and restrictions in regard to metrical structure. Cadence, especially that of common sp...

essay

(Encyclopedia)essay, relatively short literary composition in prose, in which a writer discusses a topic, usually restricted in scope, or tries to persuade the reader to accept a particular point of view. Although ...

Trilling, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Trilling, Lionel, 1905–75, American critic, author, and teacher, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1925; M.A., 1926; Ph.D., 1938). He began teaching literature at Columbia in 1932 and became a...

Synoptic Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Synoptic Gospels sĭnŏpˈtĭk [key] [Gr. synopsis=view together], the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), considered as a unit. They bear greater similarity to each other than any of them ...

O'Neill, Shane

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill, Shane, 1530?–1567, Irish chieftain. The eldest son of Con O'Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone, he carried on a bitter feud with his father after Con accepted Henry VIII's nomination of Con's illegi...

Quebec campaign

(Encyclopedia)Quebec campaign, 1775–76, of the American Revolution. The Continental Congress decided to send an expedition to Canada to protect the northern frontier from British attack and to persuade Canada to ...

Tristram and Isolde

(Encyclopedia)Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

Obrecht, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Obrecht, Jacob yäˈkōp ōˈbrĕkht [key], c.1450–1505, Flemish composer. Obrecht was ordained as a priest in 1480. He wrote an early four-part setting of the St. Matthew Passion. His sacred music ...