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) Dummer, Jeremiah, c.1680–1739, colonial agent for Massachusetts and Connecticut, b. Boston; son of Jeremiah Dummer (1645–1718). He saw little opportunity for business in Boston and settled in Engl...

(Encyclopedia) Brashear, John Alfred brəshērˈ [key], 1840–1920, American maker of scientific instruments and educator, b. Brownsville, Pa. A mechanic by trade, he taught himself the art of making lenses and mir...

(Encyclopedia) Hosack, David hŏsˈək [key], 1769–1835, American physician, surgeon, and author; for a time he was Samuel Bard's partner (see under Bard, John). He was an authority on the management of yellow fev...

(Encyclopedia) James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

(Encyclopedia) Annapolis Royal, town, W N.S., Canada, on the Annapolis River. Founded as Port Royal by the sieur de Monts in 1605, the settlement was destroyed (1613) by English colonists under Samuel Ar...

(Encyclopedia) Koroma, Ernest Bai bī kərōmäˈ [key], 1953–, Sierra Leonean political, grad. Fourah Bay College, Univ. of Sierra Leone (1976). An insurance company executive (1978–2001), he retired to enter p...

(Encyclopedia) Wain, John, 1925–94, English novelist and critic, b. Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, grad. Oxford (B.A., 1946; M.A., 1950). Originally lumped with England's angry young men after the publication of H...

(Encyclopedia) Warton, Joseph, 1722–1800, English critic and poet, brother of Thomas Warton. Educated at Winchester and Oxford, he took holy orders in 1744 and served several cures. He spent an unsuccessful tenure...

(Encyclopedia) pseudonym so͞oˈdənĭm [key] [Gr.,=false name], name assumed, particularly by writers, to conceal identity. A writer's pseudonym is also referred to as a nom de plume (pen name). Famous examples in ...