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Berners, Juliana

(Encyclopedia)Berners, Bernes, or Barnes, Juliana bŭrˈnərz, bärnz [key], supposed early 15th-century author of a popular verse treatise on hunting. The treatise is included in The Book of St. Albans (1486), a c...

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...

Ruiz, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ruiz, Juan hwän ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1283?–1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor...

Rydberg, Abraham Viktor

(Encyclopedia)Rydberg, Abraham Viktor äˈbrähäm vĭkˈtôr rüdˈbĕryə [key], 1828–95, Swedish philosopher and writer. Singoalla (1857), a romantic and mystical story of medieval times, was his first major w...

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...

Cernuda, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Cernuda, Luis lo͞oēsˈ thārno͞oˈᵺä [key], 1904–63, Spanish poet. Cernuda fled Spain after the Spanish civil war and taught abroad. His works include La realidad y el deseo [reality and desir...

Castillejo, Cristóbal de

(Encyclopedia)Castillejo, Cristóbal de krēstōˈbäl dā kästēlyāˈhō [key], c.1490–1550, Spanish poet of the Renaissance. As secretary to the king of Bohemia, Castillejo visited Vienna and other European c...

Omar Khayyam

(Encyclopedia)Omar Khayyam kīämˈ [key], fl. 11th cent., Persian poet and mathematician, b. Nishapur. He was called Khayyam [tentmaker] probably because of his father's occupation. The details of his life are mos...

Vondel, Joost van den

(Encyclopedia)Vondel, Joost van den yōst vän dĕn vônˈdəl [key], 1587–1679, Dutch poet and dramatist, b. Cologne. He is generally considered the greatest Dutch writer. During the emergence of the Dutch natio...

Berryman, John

(Encyclopedia)Berryman, John bĕrˈēmən [key], 1914–72, American poet and critic, b. McAlester, Okla., as John Allyn Smith, Jr., grad. Columbia, 1936, also studied at Cambridge. His father committed suicide whe...