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Syllabus for Literary Research: 5. Poetry

Table of Contents

Indexes to Poems Finding Biographies Biographical Dictionaries Finding Literary Criticism & Bibliographies

Excerpts from Literary Criticism Encyclopedia Summaries of Poems

This guide lists selected titles of books and databases about poetry held by the UW-Whitewater Andersen Library. It is not a comprehensive list of available titles. Follow the examples under Finding Biographies and Finding Literary Criticism and Bibliographies below to find additional books held by the UW-Whitewater or other UW-System libraries.

Locations: Call numbers preceded by Main are in the Main Collection (3rd floor), those preceded by Ref are in the Reference Collection (2nd floor), and those preceded by Remote Storage must be retrieved by Circulation staff members. Items without call numbers are online indexes and databases accessible from the Indexes & Databases Arranged by Subject: Humanities webpage, or by clicking on the linked title.

Indexes to Poems

• LitFinder (available to Wisconsin residents)
  This database includes PoemFinder.

• The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies
  9th ed. rev. - Ref   PN1022 .G7 1990
  10th ed. rev. - Ref   PN1022 .H39 1994
  11th ed. - Ref   PN1022 .H39 1997

• The Columbia Granger's Guide to Poetry Anthologies
  Ref   PN6099 .K389 1991

Finding Biographies in the Library

To find books about poets, search HALcat, the library catalog. Select the Basic Search tab (default option), then select Subject Keyword from the menu by clicking on it. Click in the textbox and type words from a subject heading. Click on . For example:

dickinson emily biography

or select Keyword (use and, or, not) from the menu and search for combinations of terms used in subject headings for a genre like "American poetry" or "English poetry," a category like "poets American" or "poets English," "Afro-American authors," "Irish authors" or "women authors" with a chronological period like "early modern," "17th century," "18th century," "19th century," or "20th century" and a type of resource such as "biography" or "bio-bibliography." Enclose a phrase of two or more words between quotation marks. Combine multiple terms with Boolean operators (and, or, not). Click on . For example:

"poets american" and "19th century" and biography

Biographical Dictionaries

• Contemporary poets
  4th ed. - Main   Z2014 .P7 C63 1985
  7th ed. - Ref   PR603 .C6 2001

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 2. Biography of Authors.

Finding Literary Criticism and Bibliographies

To find books containing literary criticism or bibliographies citing literary resources, search HALcat, the library catalog. Select the Basic Search tab (default option), select Subject Keyword from the menu by clicking on it, click in the textbox and type words from aa subject heading. Click on . For example:

keats john criticism and interpretation

wordsworth william bibliography

or select Keyword (use and, or, not) from the menu and search for combinations of terms used in subject headings for a genre like "American poetry" or "English poetry," or a category like "poets American" or "poets English," "Afro-American authors," "Irish authors," or "women authors," with a chronological period like "early modern," "17th century," "18th century," "19th century," "20th century" or "21st century" and either "history and criticism" or "bibliography." Enclose a phrase of two or more words between quotation marks. Combine multiple terms with Boolean operators (and, or, not). Click on . For example:

"american poetry" and "women authors" and criticism

"english poetry" and "18th century" and bibliography

Excerpts from Literary Criticism

For excerpts from articles, essays or books containing literary criticism, search Gale's Literature Criticism Online . Perform a search by named author or work (title) to display the resulting references to the Gale series. Most of the criticism will be fulltext in the database. For that which is not, search by Exact Title for the series titles in HALcat, the Andersen library catalog, to find the location and call number, except for volumes in the series Dictionary of Literary Biography, in which case search by Keyword (use and, or, not) for:

"dictionary of literary biography" and [insert volume number here]

Gale series that focuses on poetry:

• Poetry criticism
  Ref   PN1010 .P499

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 1a. General Sources: Literary Research Guides, Bibliographies and Indexes of Literary Criticism.

Encyclopedias

• The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
  Ref   PN1021 .N39 1993

• Patterns of Poetry: an Encyclopedia of Forms
  Main   PN1042 .W514 1986

Summaries of Poems

• Critical Survey of Poetry: English Language Series  vols. 1-7
  Remote Storage   PN1111 .C7

• Critical Survey of Poetry: Foreign Language Series  vols. 1-5
  Remote Storage   PN1111 .C72

• The Explicator Cyclopedia
  vol. 1 - Modern Poetry
  vol. 2 - Traditional Poetry: Medieval to Late Victorian
  Ref   PR401 .E9

• Guide to American Poetry Explication   vols. 1-2
  Ref   Z1231 .P7 G85 1989

• Guide to British Poetry Explication   vols. 1-4
  Ref   PR311 .P7 M34 1991

• MagillOnLiterature (EBSCOhost)
  This online database contains all of Masterplots, Masterplots II and Magill's Literary Annual as well as several other books.

• Masterplots: Poetry Series   vol. 5
  Remote Storage   PN44 .M32

• Masterplots II: Poetry Series  vols. 1-6
  Remote Storage   PN1110.5 .M37 1992

• Poetry Explication: a Checklist of Interpretation Since 1925 of British and American Poems Past and Present   3rd ed.
  Ref   Z2014 .P7 K8 1980

SEE ALSO: Syllabus for Literary Research: 1b. General Sources: Literary Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Histories & Summaries.

For assistance, contact a reference librarian at (262) 472-1032, by email or chat or in person at the Library's Reference Desk.

Last Revised: MS - 11/12/2009