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Ransom, John Crowe

(Encyclopedia)Ransom, John Crowe, 1888–1974, American poet and critic, b. Pulaski, Tenn., grad. Vanderbilt Univ. and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. He is considered one of the great stylists of 20th-centu...

Wilkinson, Jemima

(Encyclopedia)Wilkinson, Jemima, 1752–1819, American religious leader, b. Cumberland, R.I. As a girl she was powerfully impressed by the sermons of George Whitefield and also aspired to emulate the example of Ann...

Brooks, Van Wyck

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Van Wyck văn wĭkˈ [key], 1886–1963, American critic, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Harvard, 1908. His first book, The Wine of the Puritans (1909), presented the thesis that American culture ...

Hudson, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Hudson, river, c.315 mi (510 km) long, rising in Lake Tear of the Clouds, on Mt. Marcy in the Adirondack Mts., NE N.Y., and flowing generally S to Upper New York Bay at New York City; the Mohawk River...

Fox, George

(Encyclopedia)Fox, George, 1624–91, English religious leader, founder of the Society of Friends, b. Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. As a boy he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and wool dealer. By nature serious a...

Reading, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Reading. rĕdˈĭng [key] 1 Town (1990 pop. 22,539), Middlesex co., NE Mass., a suburb of Boston; settled 1639, set off from Lynn and inc. 1644. Printing is the major industry. A 17th-century tavern i...

Creeley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Creeley, Robert, 1926–2005, American poet, b. Arlington, Mass. He lived in Asia, Europe, and Latin America and taught at various universities in the United States. With Charles Olson, he was a leadi...

rainmaking

(Encyclopedia)rainmaking, production of rain by artificial means now generally disregarded, though it is probable that rainmaking hastens or increases rainfall from clouds suitable for natural rainfall. Interest in...

Beowulf

(Encyclopedia)Beowulf bāˈəwo͝olf [key], oldest English epic, probably composed in the early 8th cent. by an Anglian bard in the vicinity of Northumbria. It survives in only one manuscript, written c.a.d. 1000 b...

Philadelphia, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Philadelphia, city (2020 pop. 1,603,797), coextensive with Philadelphia co., SE Pa., on the Delaware River c.100 mi (160 km) upstream at the influx of t...