Cento (redirected from Cento (FE))

Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)

 originally Middle East Treaty Organization or Baghdad Pact Organization

Mutual-security organization, originally composed of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Britain. It was formed in 1955, at the urging of the U.S. and Britain, to counter the threat of Soviet expansion into the Middle East. CENTO was never very effective. Iraq withdrew after its anti-Soviet monarchy was overthrown in 1959. In that same year the U.S. became an associate member, and CENTO's headquarters were moved to Ankara, Tur. After the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1979, Iran withdrew and CENTO was dissolved.

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Cento 

a poem consisting entirely of lines from other poems; its aim is to emphasize the similarity or contrast between the new and the previous context of each fragment. The most famous centos are those from the late classical period that use lines and hemistichs by Vergil; examples are Ausonius’ Cento Nuptialis (fourth century A.D.) and Proba Falconia’s Cento Vergilianus (fifth century A.D.). The cento later went out of use, and now remains only as a poetic diversion.

The following poem by I. Sel’vinskii, an epigram on A. Zharov, is an example of a modern cento: the four successive lines are from poems by S. Esenin, A. Blok, N. Nekrasov, and S. Kirsanov, respectively.

        Budu pet’, budu pet’, budu pet’
         Mnogoiarusnyi korpus zavoda
       I kobylok v prostorakh svobody,
      Chtob na bloke do Bloka vskripet’.
     (“I shall sing, I shall sing, I shall sing
       The multitiered factory building
And the young mares in the expanses of freedom,
So that the pulley’s squeaking will reach Blok.”)