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Marianus Scotus, d. 1088, Irish churchman

(Encyclopedia)Marianus Scotus, d. 1088, Irish churchman, whose Gaelic name was Muiredach. He left Ireland in 1067 on a pilgrimage to Rome but settled permanently at Regensburg (Ratisbon), Germany, where he became a...

King, William, Irish clergyman and author

(Encyclopedia)King, William, 1650–1729, Irish clergyman and author. He was made archbishop of Dublin in 1702. An ardent believer in the rights of the Church of Ireland, he published in 1691 his State of the Prote...

Gundulić, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Gundulić, Ivan jōvänˈnē gōndəˈlä [key], 1588–1638, Croatian poet. Born in Ragusa (Dubrovnik) of an aristocratic Dalmatian family, he became chief magistrate of Ragusa. In his early work he ...

Sierra, Justo

(Encyclopedia)Sierra, Justo ho͞oˈstō syĕˈrä [key], 1848–1912, Mexican educator and historian. He entered the literary life as a romantic poet but later devoted himself wholeheartedly to founding schools, le...

Albion, ancient and literary name of Britain

(Encyclopedia)Albion ălˈbēən [key], ancient and literary name of Britain. It is usually restricted to England and is perhaps derived from the Latin albus meaning “white,” referring to the chalk cliffs of S ...

Albany, ancient and literary name of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Albany, ancient and literary name of Scotland, N of the Firth of Forth and Firth of Clyde. Variants are Alban and Albin.

Cullen, Countee

(Encyclopedia)Cullen, Countee kounˈtēˈ [key], 1903–46, American poet, b. New York City, grad. New York Univ. 1925, M.A. Harvard, 1926. A major writer of the Harlem Renaissance—a flowering of black artistic a...

Scève, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Scève, Maurice mōrēsˈ sĕv [key], c.1510–c.1564, French poet. While studying at Avignon he discovered the tomb of Laura, to whom Petrarch directed many of his sonnets. Scève was the leader of t...

MacDiarmid, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)MacDiarmid, Hugh məkdûrˈmĭd, –mĭt [key], pseud. of Christopher Murray Grieve, 1892–1978, Scottish poet and critic, b. Langholm, Dumfrieshire. Passionately devoted to Communism and to Scottish...

Empson, William

(Encyclopedia)Empson, William, 1906–84, English critic and poet. His Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), a study of the meanings of poetry, is a classic of modern literary criticism. It was followed by Some Versions...