Poetry U.S. poetry magazine founded in Chicago in 1912 by Harriet Monroe, who became its longtime editor. It became the principal organ for modern poetry of the English-speaking world and survived through World War II. Because its inception coincided with the Chicago literary renaissance, it is often associated with the raw, local-colour poetry of Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee AAasters, Vachel Lindsay, and Sherwood Anderson, but it also championed new formalistic movements, including Imagism. Ezra Pound was its European correspondent; among the authors it published were T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, D.H. Lawrence, and William Carlos Williams.
Poggio Bracciolini Vpod-jo-.brat-cho-'le-neX, Gian Francesco (b.
Feb. 11, 1380, Terranuova, Tuscany—d. Oct. 30, 1459, Florence) Italian humanist and calligrapher. While working as a copyist of manuscripts, Poggio invented the humanist script, which later became the prototype for Roman fonts in printing. He traveled to various monasteries in Europe, uncovering lost, forgotten, or neglected classical Latin manuscripts, including works by Cicero and Lucretius. He also translated works by Lucian, Xenophon, and others into Latin. His own writings include moral dialogues and Facetiae (1438-52), a collection of humorous tales con¬ taining satires of his contemporaries.
pogrom \p3-'gram\ Russian "devastation" or "riot" Mob attack, condoned by authorities, against persons and property of a religious, racial, or national minority. The term is usually applied to attacks on Jews in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II (1881), false rumours associating Jews with the mur¬ der aroused Russian mobs in more than 200 cities and towns to attack Jews and destroy their property. Mob attacks diminished in the 1890s, but they again became common in 1903-06. Although the government did not organize pogroms, its anti-Semitic policy (1881-1917) and reluctance to stop the attacks led many anti-Semites to believe that their violence was legitimate. Pogroms also occurred in Poland and in Germany during Adolf Hitler’s regime.
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pogy ► poison ivy I 1517
pogy See menhaden
Poincare \pwa n -ka-'ra\, (Jules-) Henri (b. April 29, 1854, Nancy, France—d. July 17, 1912, Paris)
French mathematician, theoretical astronomer, and philosopher of sci¬ ence. Born into a distinguished fam¬ ily of civil servants (see Raymond Poincare), he excelled at mental cal¬ culation and possessed an unusually retentive memory. He wrote a doc¬ toral dissertation on differential equa¬ tions (1879), then joined the University of Paris (1881), where he remained the rest of his life. Work¬ ing in celestial mechanics and math¬ ematical analysis, he independently obtained many of Albert Einstein’s results relating to the special theory ’~* enri Poincar ®' 1 ?09.
ot relativity and published them in a -
paper on the dynamics of the elec¬ tron (1906). He later wrote books for the general public on the meaning and importance of science and mathematics.
Poincare \pwa"-ka-'ra\, Raymond (b. Aug. 20, 1860, Bar-le-Duc, France—d. Oct. 15, 1934, Paris) French politician. A lawyer, he served in the Chamber of Deputies (1887-1903) and the Senate (1903-12) and as minister of education (1893, 1895) and finance minister (1894, 1906). As prime minister and foreign minister (1912-13), he strengthened France’s ties with Russia and Britain. As president of the Third Republic (1913-20), he vigorously supported national unity. As prime minister again in 1922-24 and 1926-29, he was credited with solving France’s financial crisis by sta¬ bilizing the franc, enabling a period of new prosperity.
poinsettia \p6in-'se-te-9\ Popular flowering plant (Euphorbia pulcher- rima), best-known member of the diverse spurge family. Native to Mexico and Central America, it grows in moist, wet, wooded ravines and on rocky hillsides. What appear to be flower petals are actually coloured leaflike bracts that surround a central cluster of tiny yellow flow¬ ers. Cultivated varieties are available with white, pink, mottled, and striped bracts, but the solid red vari¬ eties are in greatest demand during the Christmas season. Milky latex in the stems and leaves can be irritating to sensitized persons or animals, but the claim that poinsettias are deadly poisonous is greatly exaggerated.
Point Four Program U.S. policy of technical assistance and economic aid to less-developed countries. Pres.
Harry S. Truman proposed the plan as the fourth point of his 1949 inau¬ gural address. It was approved by Congress and administered by a spe¬ cial State Department agency until it was merged with other foreign-aid programs in 1953. Technical assistance, mainly in agriculture, public health, and education, was provided through contracts with U.S. business and educational organizations. Organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank were created to help develop the program.
Pointe-Noire V.pwa'VnwarV City (pop., 1992 est.: 576,206) and port, southwestern Republic of the Congo. It was the capital (1950-58) of the Middle Congo region of French Equatorial Africa. With independence in 1958, it was replaced by Brazzaville as the national capital, but it remained important for trade. Its port facilities were completed in 1939 and expanded during World War II. The country’s second largest city, it is a principal port and commercial centre, especially for the oil industry.
Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima).
GRANT HEILMAN-EB INC.
pointer Dog breed, of hound, spaniel, and setter ancestry, first recorded c. 1650 in Great Britain and named for the dog’s rigid posture in the direction of quarry. Pointers were originally used to point out hares and were later trained as bird dogs. The pointer stands 23-28 in. (58-71 cm) tall and weighs 50-75 lb (23-34 kg); it has a long muzzle, hanging ears,
tapered tail, and a short, smooth coat, usually white with dark markings. The German short-haired pointer, another sporting breed, tracks, points, and retrieves; it is about the size of a pointer and has a short coat of solid liver colour or liver and gray-white.
German short-haired pointer
SALLY ANNE THOMPSON
pointillism \'pwa n -te-,yi-z3m, 'poin-Ul-.i-zomV In painting, the practice of applying small strokes or dots of contrasting colour to a surface so that from a distance they blend together. The term (and its synonym, division- ism) was first used to describe the paintings of Georges Seurat. See also Camille Pissarro; Paul Signac.
Poiret \pwa-'re\, Paul (b. April 20, 1879, Paris, Fr.—d. April 30, 1944, Paris) French fashion designer. After working in the Parisian fashion house of Charles Frederick Worth, he opened his own shop in 1902. In 1908 he revived the Empire style, popular in France during the reign of Napoleon I. Seeking to restore naturalness to female garb, he was prin¬ cipally responsible for the decline of the corset. He is best known for the hobble skirt, to which he later added draped and belted knee-length tunics. Fringed and tasseled capes, multicoloured feathers, and fox stoles imparted a theatrical look to his designs. His flowing Greek costumes were extremely popular in the prewar era, but his popularity faded in the 1920s and he died in poverty.
poison Any substance (natural or synthetic) that, at a certain dosage, damages living tissues and injures or kills. Poisons spontaneously pro¬ duced by living organisms are often called toxins, venoms if produced by animals. Poisons may be ingested, inhaled, injected, or absorbed through the skin. They do not always have an all-or-none effect; degrees of poi¬ soning may occur, and at a given dose some substances are far more toxic than others (e.g., a pinch of potassium cyanide can kill, whereas a single dose of ordinary table salt must be massive to kill). Poisoning may be acute (a single dose does significant damage) or chronic (repeated or con¬ tinuous doses produce an eventual effect, as with chemical carcinogens). The effects produced by poisons may be local (hives, blisters, inflamma¬ tion) or systemic (hemorrhage, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhea, clouding of the senses, paralysis, respiratory or cardiac arrest). Agricultural pesti¬ cides are often poisonous to humans. Some industrial chemicals can be very toxic or carcinogenic. Most therapeutic drugs and health-care prod¬ ucts can be poisons if taken inappropriately or in excess. Most forms of radiation can be toxic (see radiation injury). See also antidote; arsenic poi¬ soning; fish poisoning; food poisoning; lead poisoning; medicinal poisoning;