Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Falconer, William

(Encyclopedia)Falconer, William fôkˈnər [key], 1732–69, Scottish poet. The victim of a shipwreck off Greece, he described his ordeal in a long, didactic poem, The Shipwreck (1762). He also wrote (1769) a sourc...

Davis, John William

(Encyclopedia)Davis, John William, 1873–1955, American lawyer and public official, b. Clarksburg, W.Va. Admitted (1895) to the bar, he taught (1896–97) at Washington and Lee Univ. and later practiced (1897–19...

Wirt, William Albert

(Encyclopedia)Wirt, William Albert, 1874–1938, American educator, b. Markle, Ind., grad. DePauw Univ. (Ph.B., 1898; Ph.D., 1916). In 1907 he became superintendent of schools in Gary, Ind., where he developed a pl...

Styron, William

(Encyclopedia)Styron, William, 1925–2006, American novelist, b. Newport News, Va., grad. Duke, 1947. His fiction is often powerful, deeply felt, poetic, and elegiac. He became well known for his novel The Confess...

Benét, William Rose

(Encyclopedia)Benét, William Rose, 1886–1950, American poet and editor, b. Brooklyn, grad. Yale, 1907; brother of Stephen Vincent Benét. He was associated as editor or assistant editor with the Century Magazine...

Foote, Arthur William

(Encyclopedia)Foote, Arthur William, 1853–1937, American organist, teacher, and composer, b. Salem, Mass.; pupil of J. K. Paine at Harvard. He was organist (1878–1910) at the First Unitarian Church in Boston, w...

Hocking, William Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Hocking, William Ernest, 1873–1966, American idealist philosopher, b. Cleveland, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1901; Ph.D., 1904). He was professor of philosophy at Harvard from 1914 until his retirement in ...

Richards, William Trost

(Encyclopedia)Richards, William Trost, 1833–1905, American painter, b. Philadelphia, studied in Florence, Rome, and Paris, and settled in Germantown, Pa. Early in his career he painted landscapes and still lifes,...

Elphinstone, William

(Encyclopedia)Elphinstone, William ĕlˈfĭnstən, –stōnˌ [key], 1431–1514, Scottish prelate, founder of the Univ. of Aberdeen. He was trained in the law and was employed on many political missions before bec...

Gladstone, William Ewart

(Encyclopedia)Gladstone, William Ewart, 1809–98, British statesman, the dominant personality of the Liberal party from 1868 until 1894. A great orator and a master of finance, he was deeply religious and brought ...