Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 The five classical positions in ballet ballet bălˈā, bălāˈ [key] [Ital. ballare=to dance], classic, formalized solo or ensemble dancing of a highly controlled, dramatic nature performed ...

(Encyclopedia) English art and architecture, the distinctive national art and architecture that art may be said to have evolved in the 12th cent. with the Norman style. Building before that time was in what is commo...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Carolingian Empire (814) Charlemagne (Charles the Great or Charles I) shärˈləmān [key] [O.Fr.,=Charles the great], 742?–814, emperor of the West (800–814), Carolingian king of the Fran...

(Encyclopedia) criticism, the interpretation and evaluation of literature and the arts. It exists in a variety of literary forms: dialogues (Plato, John Dryden), verse (Horace, Alexander Pope), letters (John Keats),...

(Encyclopedia) Transylvania trănˌsĭlvāˈnyə [key], Rom. Transilvania or Ardeal, Hung. Erdély, Ger. Siebenbürgen, historic region and province (21,292 sq mi/55,146 sq km), central Romania. A high plateau, Tran...

(Encyclopedia) Gaelic literature, literature in the native tongue of Ireland and Scotland. Since Scots Gaelic became separate from Irish Gaelic only in the 17th cent., the literature is conventionally divided into O...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut River forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of...

(Encyclopedia) mystery or mystery story, literary genre in which the cause (or causes) of a mysterious happening, often a crime, is gradually revealed by the hero or heroine; this is accomplished through a mixture o...

(Encyclopedia) African art, art created by the peoples south of the Sahara. The predominant art forms are masks and figures, which were generally used in religious ceremonies. The decorative arts, especially in text...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 View into the eye of a hurricane showing the structure of the surrounding cloud wall hurricane, tropical cyclone in which winds attain speeds greater than 74 mi (119 km) per hr. Wind speeds gu...