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pastoral

(Encyclopedia) pastoral, literary work in which the shepherd's life is presented in a conventionalized manner. In this convention the purity and simplicity of shepherd life is contrasted with the…

serial music

(Encyclopedia) serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G…

Ariosto, Ludovico

(Encyclopedia) Ariosto, LudovicoAriosto, Ludovicol&oomacr;dōvēˈkō äryôsˈtō [key], 1474–1533, Italian epic and lyric poet. As a youth he was a favorite at the court of Ferrara; later he was in the…

Amin, Idi

(Encyclopedia) Amin, IdiAmin, Idiēˈdē amēnˈ [key], c.1925–2003, Ugandan army officer and dictator. From the small Kakwa ethnic group, he advanced in the Ugandan armed forces from private (1946) to…

Toland, John

(Encyclopedia) Toland, JohnToland, Johntōˈlənd [key], 1670–1722, British deist, b. Ireland. Brought up a Roman Catholic, Toland became a Protestant at 16. He studied at Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leiden…

Adams, Will

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Will (William Adams), 1564?–1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and…

sonnet

(Encyclopedia) sonnet, poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, restricted to a definite rhyme scheme. There are two prominent types: the Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet, composed of an octave…

Hubble, Edwin Powell

(Encyclopedia) Hubble, Edwin Powell, 1889–1953, American astronomer, b. Marshfield, Mo. He did research (1914–17) at Yerkes Observatory, and joined (1919) the staff of Mt. Wilson Observatory,…

lyric

(Encyclopedia) lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more…

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia) Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1st Baron, 1800–1859, English historian and author, b. Leicestershire, educated at Cambridge. After the success of his essay on Milton in the Edinburgh…