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Saint Valentine's Day

(Encyclopedia)Saint Valentine's Day, Western European Christian holiday, originally the Roman feast of Lupercalia. It was christianized in memory of the martyrdom of St. Valentine in a.d. 270, who, in medieval time...

Tommaseo, Niccolò

(Encyclopedia)Tommaseo, Niccolò nēk-kōlôˈ tōm-mäzāˈō [key], 1802–74, Italian poet and critic, b. Sibenik, Dalmatia. In addition to poetry, novels, and literary criticism, he wrote well in history, philo...

Collier, John

(Encyclopedia)Collier, John, 1884–1968, American social worker, anthropologist, and author, educated at Columbia and the Collège de France. After holding several positions in community organization and social wo...

Clark, Lewis Gaylord

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Lewis Gaylord, 1808?–1873, American editor and writer, b. near Syracuse, N.Y. He was the editor (1834–60) of the Knickerbocker Magazine and made it a leading literary publication of its day...

Parini, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Parini, Giuseppe jo͞ozĕpˈpā pärēˈnē [key], 1729–99, Italian poet, a priest and teacher. He was a professor and a superintendent of schools in Milan; a liberal, Parini became (1796) a governm...

Freiligrath, Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Freiligrath, Ferdinand fĕrˈdēnänt frīˈlĭkhrät [key], 1810–76, German poet. In 1844 he expressed radically liberal sentiments in his collection of political verse Ein Glaubensbekenntnis [a co...

Galt, John

(Encyclopedia)Galt, John, 1779–1839, Scottish novelist. He went to Canada as secretary for the Canada Company, founding there in 1827 the town of Guelph and encouraging Canadian immigration. He wrote poems, blank...

Gamelyn, The Tale of

(Encyclopedia)Gamelyn, The Tale of gămˈəlĭn [key], a romance in verse, written c.1350, containing about 900 lines. It tells of the tribulations of a young man abused by his older brothers. The tale survives in ...

Hiero I

(Encyclopedia)Hiero I hīˈərō [key], 5th cent. b.c., Greek Sicilian ruler, tyrant of Syracuse (478–467 b.c.). He succeeded his brother Gelon. A noted patron of literature, Hiero had Simonides, Pindar, and Aesc...

Brooks, Maria Gowen

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Maria Gowen gouˈən [key], 1795?–1845, American poet, b. Medford, Mass. Her first collection of verse, Judith, Esther, and Other Poems (1820), was praised by Southey, who named her “Maria...