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Cowley, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Cowley, Abraham ko͞oˈlē, kouˈ– [key], 1618–67, one of the English metaphysical poets. He published his first volume of verse, Poetical Blossoms (1633), when he was 15. While a student at Cambr...

Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor

(Encyclopedia)Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor grōvˈnər [key], 1869–1924, American architect, b. Pomfret, Conn. He studied under James Renwick in New York City and in 1891 entered the office of Ralph Adams Cram in B...

Midwest

(Encyclopedia)Midwest or Middle West, region of the United States centered on the western Great Lakes and the upper-middle Mississippi valley. It is a somewhat imprecise term that has been applied to the northern s...

Lincoln, Mary Todd

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818–82, wife of Abraham Lincoln, b. Lexington, Ky. Of a good Kentucky family, she was living with her sister, daughter-in-law of Gov. Ninian Edwards of Illinois, in Springfield,...

Kesey, Ken Elton

(Encyclopedia)Kesey, Ken Elton, 1935–2001, American novelist and counterculture figure, b. La Junta, Colo.; grad. Univ. of Oregon (1957), Stanford Univ. (1960). While a student he volunteered for a hospital study...

koan

(Encyclopedia)koan kōˈän [key] [Jap.,=public question; Chin. kung-an], a subject for meditation in Ch'an or Zen Buddhism, usually one of the sayings of a great Zen master of the past. In the formative period of ...

buckminsterfullerene

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Buckminsterfullerene buckminsterfullerene bŭkˌmĭnstərfo͝olˈərēnˌ, –fo͝olˌərēnˈ [key] or buckyball, C60, hollow cage carbon molecule named for R. Buckminster Fuller because of t...

Rutledge, John

(Encyclopedia)Rutledge, John, 1739–1800, American jurist and political leader, 2d chief justice of the United States, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of Edward Rutledge. After studying law in London he began practic...

Barthelme, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Barthelme, Donald bärtˈəlmē [key], 1931–89, American writer, b. Philadelphia. The son of an architect, he grew up in Texas, moved (1962) to New York City, worked as a curator and an editor, and ...

Rich, Adrienne

(Encyclopedia)Rich, Adrienne, 1929–2012, American poet, b. Baltimore, grad. Radcliffe, 1951. From the 1970s her exquisitely wrought verse became looser and more personal as her works increasingly reflected femini...