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Larkin, Oliver Waterman

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, Oliver Waterman, 1896–1970, American art historian, b. Medford, Mass. Larkin taught at Smith from 1924 to 1964. His major work is Art and Life in America (1949; Pulitzer Prize in history, 19...

Hopkinson, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Hopkinson, Joseph, 1770–1842, American jurist, b. Philadelphia; son of Francis Hopkinson. A successful lawyer, he helped to defend (1804) Justice Samuel Chase in impeachment proceedings and was asso...

epitaph

(Encyclopedia)epitaph, strictly, an inscription on a tomb; by extension, a statement, usually in verse, commemorating the dead. The earliest such inscriptions are those found on Egyptian sarcophagi. In England epit...

Cooper, Myles

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, Myles, 1737?–1785, 2d president of King's College (now Columbia Univ.), b. England, educated at Oxford. He was ordained a priest in 1761 and went to King's College (1762) as professor of mor...

Shakespeare, William

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-upon-Avon. He is widely considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. For about 150 years after his death ...

conceit

(Encyclopedia)conceit, in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventiona...

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer, British statesman, soldier, and author

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer, 1874–1965, British statesman, soldier, and author; son of Lord Randolph Churchill. Churchill was undoubtedly one of the greatest public figures of the 20t...

Rostow, Eugene Victor Debs

(Encyclopedia)Rostow, Eugene Victor Debs, 1913–2002, U.S. lawyer, educator, and government official, brother of Walt Whitman Rostow, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1938, Rostow joined the Yale law schoo...

essay

(Encyclopedia)essay, relatively short literary composition in prose, in which a writer discusses a topic, usually restricted in scope, or tries to persuade the reader to accept a particular point of view. Although ...

Stephen, Sir Leslie

(Encyclopedia)Stephen, Sir Leslie, 1832–1904, English author and critic. The first serious critic of the novel, he was also editor of the great Dictionary of National Biography from its beginning in 1882 until 18...