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Casa, Giovanni della

(Encyclopedia)Casa, Giovanni della jōvänˈnē dĕlˈlä käˈzä [key], 1503–56, Italian cleric and poet. He was archbishop of Benevento and papal nuncio to Venice. He wrote lyric verse, a life of Bembo, and a ...

Lermontov, Mikhail Yurevich

(Encyclopedia)Lermontov, Mikhail Yurevich mēkhəyēlˈ yo͞orˈyĭvĭch lyĕrˈməntŭf [key], 1814–41, Russian poet and novelist. Given an extensive private education by his wealthy grandmother, Lermontov began...

Berg, Alban

(Encyclopedia)Berg, Alban älˈbän bĕrk [key], 1885–1935, Austrian composer. In his youth he taught himself music but in 1904 he became the pupil and close friend of Arnold Schoenberg. Later Berg himself taught...

Tasso, Torquato

(Encyclopedia)Tasso, Torquato tōrkwäˈtō täsˈsō [key], 1544–95, Italian poet, one of the foremost writers and a tragic figure of the Renaissance. Educated in Naples by Jesuits, he later studied law and phil...

Pindar

(Encyclopedia)Pindar pĭnˈdər [key], 518?–c.438 b.c., Greek poet, generally regarded as the greatest Greek lyric poet. A Boeotian of noble birth, he lived principally at Thebes. He traveled widely, staying for ...

Eichendorff, Joseph, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Eichendorff, Joseph, Freiherr von yōˈzĕf frīˈhĕr fən īˈkhəndôrf [key], 1788–1857, German poet, a leader of the late romantics. He studied law, volunteered in Lützow's corps in the Napole...

Fleming, Renée

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Renée, 1959–, American soprano, b. Indiana, Pa. In 1986 she made her professional debut in Salzburg, Austria, in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, and has since performed at Covent Gar...

monologue

(Encyclopedia)monologue, an extended speech by one person only. Strindberg's one-act play The Stronger, spoken entirely by one person, is an extreme example of monologue. Soliloquy is synonymous, but usually refers...

metaphysical poets

(Encyclopedia)metaphysical poets, name given to a group of English lyric poets of the 17th cent. The term was first used by Samuel Johnson (1744). The hallmark of their poetry is the metaphysical conceit (a figure ...

León, Luis Ponce de

(Encyclopedia)León, Luis Ponce de lo͞oēsˈ pōnˈthā dā lāōnˈ [key], 1527?–1591, Spanish mystic and poet, an Augustinian monk. Fray Luis held various theological chairs at the Univ. of Salamanca. A noted ...