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Parsifal

(Encyclopedia)Parsifal pärˈsĭfäl [key], figure of Arthurian legend also known as Sir Percivale, who is in turn a later form of a hero of Celtic myth. The name originally occurs as Pryderi, an alternative name o...

Chaucer, Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Chaucer, Geoffrey jĕfˈrē chôˈsər [key], c.1340–1400, English poet, one of the most important figures in English literature. To Chaucer's final period, in which he achieved his fullest artist...

Congreve, William

(Encyclopedia)Congreve, William, 1670–1729, English dramatist, b. near Leeds, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied law in the Middle Temple. After publishing a novel of intrigue, Incognita (1692), and...

Forster, E. M.

(Encyclopedia)Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan Forster), 1879–1970, English author, one of the most important British novelists of the 20th cent. After graduating from Cambridge, Forster lived in Italy and Greece. D...

chivalry

(Encyclopedia)chivalry shĭvˈəlrē [key], system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th cent. Chivalric ethics originated chiefly in France and Spain and ...

tower

(Encyclopedia)tower, structure, the greatest dimension of which is its height. Towers have belonged to two general types. The first embodies practical uses such as defense (characteristic of the Middle Ages), to ca...

Brunetière, Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Brunetière, Ferdinand fĕrdēnäNˈ brünətyĕrˈ [key], 1849–1906, French literary critic. An opponent of naturalism, he believed that literature should reflect a moral order. His vast learning i...

pastoral

(Encyclopedia)pastoral, literary work in which the shepherd's life is presented in a conventionalized manner. In this convention the purity and simplicity of shepherd life is contrasted with the corruption and arti...

Senghor, Léopold Sédar

(Encyclopedia)Senghor, Léopold Sédar lāôpôldˈ sādärˈ säNgôrˈ [key], 1906–2001, African statesman and poet; president (1960–80) of the Republic of Senegal, b. Joal. The son of a prosperous landowner,...

bow and arrow

(Encyclopedia)bow and arrow, weapon consisting of two parts; the bow is made of a strip of flexible material, such as wood, with a cord linking the two ends of the strip to form a tension from which is propelled th...