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Regency

(Encyclopedia)Regency, in British history, the period of the last nine years (1811–20) of the reign of George III, when the king's insanity had rendered him unfit to rule and the government was vested in the prin...

Ai Ch'ing

(Encyclopedia)Ai Ch'ing or Ai Qing both: īˈ chĭngˈ [key], pseud. of Chiang Hai-ch'eng or Jiang Haicheng, 1910–96, Chinese poet. After studying painting in France (1929–32), where he discovered realist liter...

Borgia, Lucrezia

(Encyclopedia)Borgia, Lucrezia bōrˈjä [key], 1480–1519, Italian noblewoman, famous figure of the Italian Renaissance; daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her first marriage (1492) to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro was ...

Bly, Robert Elwood

(Encyclopedia)Bly, Robert Elwood, 1926–2021, American writer, translator, editor, and publisher, b. Lac qui Parle County, Mn., Harvard (B.A., 1950), Univ. of Iowa (...

Basho

(Encyclopedia)Basho (Matsuo Basho) mätˈso͞oō bäˈshō [key], 1644–94, Japanese poet, critic, and essayist of the early Edo period. His literary name, Basho, is derived from the plantain trees [basho] near a ...

Suckling, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Suckling, Sir John, 1609–42, one of the English Cavalier poets. He was educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn. An accomplished gallant, he was given to all the extravagances of the court of Charles I....

Thomas, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Edward, 1878–1917, English poet, b. London, studied at Oxford. Forced to earn a living for his young family, Thomas began his literary career writing prose: dozens of essays on a wide array ...

Shiraz

(Encyclopedia)Shiraz shēräzˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 965,117), capital of Fars prov., SW Iran, at an altitude of c.5,200 ft (1,580 m). It is a commercial and industrial center and has long been known for its wine...

Siddons, Sarah Kemble

(Encyclopedia)Siddons, Sarah Kemble, 1755–1831, English actress. The most distinguished of the famous Kemble family, she had early theatrical experience in her father's traveling company, and at 18 she married Wi...

Rexroth, Kenneth

(Encyclopedia)Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905–82, American poet, critic, and translator, b. South Bend, Ind. A resident of San Francisco, he was briefly associated with the beat generation, although he disdained their lac...