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Snyder, Gary

(Encyclopedia)Snyder, Gary, 1930–, American poet, b. San Francisco. Associated with the beat generation of the 1950s, he lived (1956–68) in Japan, where he trained as a Zen monk. His poetry, influenced by Zen B...

Pembroke, Aymer de Valence, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, Aymer de Valence, earl of pĕmˈbro͝ok [key], d. 1324, English nobleman; nephew of Aymer of Valence, bishop of Winchester. He succeeded his father, William, half-brother of Henry III, as ea...

Pater, Walter Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Pater, Walter Horatio pāˈtər [key], 1839–94, English essayist and critic. In 1864 he was elected a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and he subsequently led an austere and uneventful life. An ...

Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich əlyĭksänˈdər əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch blôk [key], 1880–1921, Russian poet, considered the greatest of the Russian symbolists. As the leading disciple of Vladimir S...

Crane, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Stephen, 1871–1900, American novelist, poet, and short-story writer, b. Newark, N.J. Often designated the first modern American writer, Crane is ranked among the authors who introduced realis...

Acheson, Dean Gooderham

(Encyclopedia)Acheson, Dean Gooderham ăchˈĭsən [key], 1893–1971, U.S. secretary of state (1949–53), b. Middletown, Conn., grad. Yale, Harvard Law School. He was (1919–21) private secretary to Louis Brande...

Henry the Navigator

(Encyclopedia)Henry the Navigator, 1394–1460, prince of Portugal, patron of exploration. Because he fought with extraordinary valor in the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta (1415), he was created duke of Viseu by his ...

Hogarth, William

(Encyclopedia)Hogarth, William, 1697–1764, English painter, satirist, engraver, and art theorist, b. London. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a silver-plate engraver. He soon made engravings on copper for b...

Grateful Dead, The

(Encyclopedia)Grateful Dead, The, American rock music group formed in 1965 by guitarists Jerry Garcia, 1942–95, and Bob Weir, 1947–, harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, 1945–73, bassist Phil Lesh, 194...

Eden, Anthony, 1st earl of Avon

(Encyclopedia)Eden, Anthony, 1st earl of Avon āˈvən [key], 1897–1977, British statesman. After service in World War I ...