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Valéry, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Valéry, Paul pōl välārēˈ [key], 1871–1945, French poet and critic. A follower of the symbolists, Valéry was one of the greatest French poets of the 20th cent. He was encouraged by Pierry Loü...

Bhagavad-Gita

(Encyclopedia)Bhagavad-Gita bŭgˈəvəd-gēˈtə [key] [Skt.,=song of the Lord], Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism. The Gita (as it is often called...

botanical garden

(Encyclopedia)botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

minstrel show

(Encyclopedia)minstrel show, stage entertainment by white performers made up as blacks. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who gave (c.1828) the first solo performance in blackface and introduced the song-and-dance act Jim Cro...

Rudolf II

(Encyclopedia)Rudolf II, 1552–1612, Holy Roman emperor (1576–1612), king of Bohemia (1575–1611) and of Hungary (1572–1608), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Acceding to the Hapsburg la...

Ridley, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Ridley, Nicholas, c.1500–1555, English prelate, reformer, and Protestant martyr. In 1534, while a proctor of Cambridge, he signed the decree against the pope's supremacy in England. In 1537 he becam...

Connolly, Cyril

(Encyclopedia)Connolly, Cyril kŏnˈəlē [key], 1903–74, English critic and editor, b. Coventry, England. After attending the Univ. of Oxford, he began his career as a journalist. With Stephen Spender he founded...

Cyprian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Cyprian, Saint sĭpˈrēən [key], 200?–258, Father of the Church, bishop of Carthage (c.248), and perhaps a disciple of Tertullian. Converted in his middle age, he rose quickly to become the most p...

Giulio Romano

(Encyclopedia)Giulio Romano jo͞oˈlyō rōmäˈnō [key], c.1492–1546, Italian painter, architect, and decorator, whose real name was Giulio Pippi. He was the favorite pupil of Raphael and while still a youth wa...

Ditko, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Ditko, Steve (Stephen John Ditko), 1927–2018, American comic-book artist, b. Johnstown, Pa., studied early 1950s Cartoonist and Illustrator School (later School of Visual Arts), New York City. Much ...