Columbia Encyclopedia

(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 ...

(Encyclopedia) Mackay, John William măkˈē [key], 1831–1902, American financier, b. Dublin, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1840. In 1859 he joined the rush to Nevada, where silver had been discov...

(Encyclopedia) Ausonius (Decimus Magnus Ausonius) ôsōˈnēəs [key], c.310–c.395, Latin poet and man of letters, b. Bordeaux. He tutored Gratian, who, when he ascended the throne, made Ausonius prefect of Gaul, ...

(Encyclopedia) Austin, John Langshaw, 1911–60, British philosopher. A graduate of Oxford, he was a fellow of All Souls (1933–35) and Magdalen (1935–52) colleges before he became White's professor of moral phil...

(Encyclopedia) Palamas, Kostes kôstēsˈ pälämäsˈ [key], 1859–1943, Greek poet. He studied at the Univ. of Athens of which he later was secretary for many years. Except in his early work, he wrote in demotic ...

(Encyclopedia) Palgrave, Francis Turner, 1824–97, English poet and anthologist; eldest son of Sir Francis Palgrave. Educated at Oxford, where he began his lifelong friendship with Tennyson, he was an official in t...

(Encyclopedia) Marne, battle of the, two important battles of World War I that are named for the Marne River. In the first battle (Sept. 6–9, 1914) the German advance on Paris was halted at the Marne by the Allies...

(Encyclopedia) Massasoit măsˌəsoiˈĭt, măsˈəsoitˌ [key], c.1580–1661, chief of the Wampanoag. His name was Ousamequin (spelled in various ways); Massasoit is a title of leadership. One of the most powerful...

(Encyclopedia) Peterloo massacre, public disturbance in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England, Aug. 16, 1819, also called the Manchester massacre. A crowd of some 60,000 men, women, and children were peaceably gath...

(Encyclopedia) phlogiston theory flōjĭsˈtŏn [key], hypothesis regarding combustion. The theory, advanced by J. J. Becher late in the 17th cent. and extended and popularized by G. E. Stahl, postulates that in all...