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Reynard the Fox

(Encyclopedia)Reynard the Fox rĕˈnərd, rāˈnärd [key], the supreme trickster and celebrated hero of the medieval beast epics, works predominantly in verse which became increasingly popular after c.1150. They a...

Webern, Anton von

(Encyclopedia)Webern, Anton von änˈtōn fən vāˈbərn [key], 1883–1945, Austrian composer and conductor; pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. He conducted theater orchestras in Prague and in various German cities unti...

Byrd, Richard Evelyn

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 1888–1957, American aviator and polar explorer, b. Winchester, Va. He took up aviation in 1917, and after World War I he gained great fame in the air. He commanded the naval ai...

Monteverdi, Claudio

(Encyclopedia)Monteverdi, Claudio klouˈdyō mōntāvĕrˈdē [key], 1567–1643, Italian composer; first great figure in the history of opera. His earliest published works, a set of three motifs, appeared when he ...

Gates, Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Horatio, c.1727–1806, American Revolutionary general, b. Maldon, Essex, England. Entering the British army at an early age, he fought in America in the French and Indian War and served in the...

Saint John, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Saint John, city (1991 pop. 74,969), S N.B., Canada, at the mouth of the St. John River on the Bay of Fundy. A year-round port, it has an excellent harbor, large dry docks, and terminal facilities. Th...

Trilling, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Trilling, Lionel, 1905–75, American critic, author, and teacher, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1925; M.A., 1926; Ph.D., 1938). He began teaching literature at Columbia in 1932 and became a...

Munich Pact

(Encyclopedia)Munich Pact, 1938. In the summer of 1938, Chancellor Hitler of Germany began openly to support the demands of Germans living in the Sudetenland (see Sudetes) of Czechoslovakia for an improved status. ...

De Long, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)De Long, George Washington də lôngˈ [key], 1844–81, American arctic explorer, b. New York City, grad. Annapolis, 1865. In 1873 he was assigned to the Juniata, which was sent to the arctic to sear...

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

(Encyclopedia)Shelley, Percy Bysshe bĭsh [key], 1792–1822, English poet, b. Horsham, Sussex. He is ranked as one of the great English poets of the romantic period. Most of Shelley's poetry reveals his philos...