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Heine, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Heine, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh hīˈnə [key], 1797–1856, German poet, b. Düsseldorf, of a Jewish family. One of the greatest of German lyric poets, he had a varied career. After failing in business h...

Storm, Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Storm, Theodor tāˈōdôr shtôrm [key], 1817–88, German poet and novelist, b. Schleswig-Holstein. From 1843 to 1853 he practiced law in his native Husum, but he was exiled (1853–64) by Denmark f...

Toller, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Toller, Ernst ĕrnst tôlˈər [key], 1893–1939, German dramatist and poet of the expressionist school. He was imprisoned (1919–24) for participating in the Communist Bavarian revolution. In 1932 ...

Perse, St.-John

(Encyclopedia)Perse, St.-John, pseud. of Alexis Saint-Léger Léger, 1887–1975, French poet and diplomat, b. West Indies. Léger, an opponent of appeasement of the Nazis, was enormously influential in France's fo...

Freneau, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Freneau, Philip frēnōˈ [key], 1752–1832, American poet and journalist, b. New York City, grad. Princeton, 1771. During the American Revolution he served as soldier and privateer. His experiences ...

Farrell, Eileen

(Encyclopedia)Farrell, Eileen fârˈəl [key], 1920–2002, American dramatic soprano, b. Willimantic, Conn. Farrell received her early musical training from her vaudvillian mother. Having begun singing on the radi...

dithyramb

(Encyclopedia)dithyramb dĭthˈĭrăm [key], in ancient Greece, hymn to the god Dionysus, choral lyric with exchanges between the leader and the chorus. It arose, probably, in the extemporaneous songs of the Dionys...

Boiardo, Matteo Maria

(Encyclopedia)Boiardo or Bojardo, Matteo Maria mät-tĕˈō märēˈä bōyärˈdō [key], 1441?–1494, Italian poet, count of Scandiano. A favorite at the Este court in Ferrara, he served on diplomatic missions a...

Werfel, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Werfel, Franz fränts vĕrˈfəl [key], 1890–1945, Austrian writer, b. Prague. He expressed his belief in the brotherhood of man in lyric verse, in expressionist and conventional plays, and in novel...

Thomson, James , 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, James, 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist. He is remembered for his darkly pessimistic poem The City of Dreadful Night. He was raised in an orphan asylum and became (1851) an army teacher ...