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Clare, John

(Encyclopedia)Clare, John, 1793–1864, English poet. A romantic poet who wrote shortly after the vogue for such verse, he had a profound and singular gift for capturing nature in exquisitely specific detail. The s...

hexameter

(Encyclopedia)hexameter hĕksămˈətər [key] [Gr.,=measure of six], in prosody, a line to be scanned in six feet (see versification). The most celebrated hexameter measure is dactylic, which was the meter for mos...

Minden, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Minden mĭnˈdən [key], city (1994 pop. 80,423), North Rhine–Westphalia, NW Germany, a port on the Weser River and the Midland Canal. It is an industrial center and rail junction. Manufactures incl...

treble

(Encyclopedia)treble, highest part in choral music, thus corresponding in pitch to soprano, but associated with the voice of a boy or a girl. The term appeared in 15th-century English polyphony, probably as an angl...

Jusserand, Jean Jules

(Encyclopedia)Jusserand, Jean Jules zhäN zhül zhüsəräNˈ [key], 1855–1932, French diplomat and author, b. Lyon. After service in London, Constantinople, and Copenhagen, he was ambassador to the United States...

Brookner, Anita

(Encyclopedia)Brookner, Anita, 1928–2016, English writer and art critic. After establishing an academic career at London's Courtauld Institute of Art and becoming the first woman appointed (1968) Slade Professor ...

Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Boyd, Belle

(Encyclopedia)Boyd, Belle, 1844–1900, Confederate spy in the Civil War, b. Martinsburg, Va. (now W.Va.). Operating (probably unofficially) in Martinsburg and Front Royal, she provided Gen. T. J. (Stonewall) Jacks...

Gullah

(Encyclopedia)Gullah gŭlˈə [key], a creole language formerly spoken by the Gullah, an African-American community of the Sea Islands and the Middle Atlantic coast of the United States. The word is probably a corr...

bilingualism

(Encyclopedia)bilingualism, ability to use two languages. Fluency in a second language requires skills in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing, although in practice some of those skills are often...