science

Poictesme

Poictesme is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Poictesme rather than just read about it. In short: Poictesme () is a fictional country or province which forms the setting of the fantasy works of James Branch Cabell, known collectively as Biography of the Life of Manuel. Poictesme is ruled by the Count Dom Manuel.

Key takeaways

Poictesme belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Poictesme to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Poictesme from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Poictesme () is a fictional country or province which forms the setting of the fantasy works of James Branch Cabell, known collectively as Biography of the Life of Manuel. Poictesme is ruled by the Count Dom Manuel. It was the author's intention to situate Poictesme roughly in Southern France. The name suggests the two real French cities of Poitiers (medieval Poictiers) and Angoulême (medieval Angoulesme). Poictesme is a fief of King Ferdinand of Castile and León, who installs Manuel as count in the year 1234. Cabell's fictional history of the country extends as far as the 17th century. The first map of Poictesme was drawn by Cabell himself, but other maps were created by artists such as Frank C. Papé, Peter Koch, and Judith Ann Lawrence. At the height of Cabell's popularity in the 1920s, Cabell's publishers sold framed wall-maps of Poictesme. The undergraduate literary journal of Virginia Commonwealth University is named pwatem after the fictional province.

Other references In H. Beam Piper's popular science fiction novel, Junkyard Planet (Putnams 1963 & Wildside Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-4344-0085-7, also published as The Cosmic Computer in paperback edition), Poictesme is the name of the planet on which the main body of the story occurs. A specific reference is made to Cabell. Poictesme is also a moon of the planet Sauron in War World: The Battle of Sauron by John Carr and Don Hawthorne (Pequod Press, 2007, ISBN 0-937912-04-2). Poictesme and Lotharingia are two of the three kingdoms in a short story by Isaac Asimov, "Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon". The story first appeared in Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales (Del Rey / Ballantine Books, 1991); it also appears in Asimov's anthology Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection (HarperCollins Publishers, 1996, ISBN 0-06-105205-1). The graphic novel/webcomic Girl Genius makes a passing reference to a "Poictesme Province" within its own fantasy version of Europe, in the strip of March 31, 2014. In Judith Tarr's novel Kingdom of the Grail, Poictesme is a region in the mystical land of Montsalvat, along with Lyonesse, Caer Sidi, and Carbonek.

References

External links "Maps of Poictesme," James Branch Cabell: Literary Life and Legacy, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

(pwatem), Student literary magazine, Virginia Commonwealth University

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Poictesme

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Poictesme claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Poictesme before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Poictesme ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Poictesme

In research: Poictesme appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Poictesme in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Poictesme is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fantasy stubs, Fictional European countries, Fictional location stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Poictesme outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Poictesme in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Poictesme means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Poictesme out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Poictesme in simple terms?

Why does Poictesme matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Poictesme?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Poictesme.