LITERATURE

Reference Books | Databases | Periodicals | Websites

REFERENCE BOOKS

• Benaet's reader's encyclopedia. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. R803 B46 3d ed.
• Encyclopedia of southern literature. ABC-CLIO, 1997. R810.9 S515
• St. James reference guide to English literature. St. James Press, 1991. R820.9 S7, 2nd ed.
• Southern writers: a new biographical dictionary. Louisiana State University Press. R810.9 S68 2006
• Writing African American women: an encyclopedia of literature by and about women of color. Greenwood Press. R810.9 W75 2006

DATABASES

Click here for Humanities databases (includes Literature).

PERIODICALS

WEBSITES

General | Literary Criticism | Study Guides | Online Texts | Literary Periods

-- GENERAL

• American Authors on the Web: More than 700 entries on authors from 1550 to 1950.
• Encyclopedia Mythica: Online source for world mythologies, folklore, religion and legends. Search the site for particular topics, or browse the various themes.
• Greek Mythology Link: Carlos Parada provides a massive, extensively linked collection of information on the mythology of classical Greece.
• Library of Southern Literature: List of 100 most significant literary texts of the South published up to 1920. Information for each title includes author biography, title page image, images from the book, and often full text.
• Mississippi Writers Page: Resource about writers in, from, or otherwise associated with the state of Mississippi, from the English Department at the University of Mississippi.
• PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: Quick reference to major movements and authors in American literature.
• Voice of the Shuttle [by literary period]: Excellent source for any research in the humanities.

-- LITERARY CRITICISM

• Cambridge History of English and American Literature: Contains over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages, with essay topics ranging from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing (Bartleby.com).
• Online Literary Criticism Collection (Internet Public Library): Contains links to critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period.

-- STUDY GUIDES

• Bibliomania: Educational resource with full texts of classic world literature and important non-fiction texts supported by an extensive reference section.
• FreeBooknotes.com: Free study guides for over 2500 books.
• SparkNotes.com: Study guides contain thorough summaries and insightful critical analysis of subjects including English literature and Shakespeare.
• Study Guides for Various Works: Literary subject study guides prepared by Professor Paul Brians of Washington State University for the use of students in his classes.

-- ONLINE TEXTS

• ALEX Catalogue of Electronic Texts
• Bartleby.com: Includes fiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction, and reference.
• European Literature: Electronic Texts
• Folk & Mythology Electronic Texts
• Oxford Book of English Verse
• Project Gutenberg
• Representative Poetry Online: Includes 3,162 English poems by 500 poets from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets today. Indexed by poet; covers major works in English.
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

-- LITERARY PERIODS

  Anglo-Saxon/Medieval

• Chaucer MetaPage
• Luminarium: Anthology of Middle English Literature (1350-1485): Works, biographies, essays and articles on featured authors. Also includes mystery and morality plays and Middle English Lyrics.
• NetSERF: Medieval Culture: Index of medieval resources on the Internet.
• Middle English Collection at the Electronic Text Center, Univ. of Virginia
• Middle English Compendium: offers access to three major Middle English resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies, and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse.
• Piers Plowman Electronic Archive: Electronic archive of all three versions of Piers Plowman.
• The Geoffrey Chaucer Website (Harvard University)

  Renaissance & 16th Century

• Sir Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning: Explores the many facets of Francis Bacon's life and work
• Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe: From Tufts University
• Complete Works of William Shakespeare
• Enfolded Hamlet: Compare 2nd quartet and 1st folio
• John Milton: The Milton-L Home Page: Online discussion group devoted to the life, literature and times of John Milton. Includes articles and images.
• Sonnet Central: Archive of English sonnets, commentary, and relevant web links.
• Voice of the Shuttle: Renaissance Pages

  17th - 18th Centuries

• A Guide to Samuel Johnson (Rutgers University)
• Blake Multimedia Project: From Cal Poly University
• Gothic Literature Read by the Romantic Writers: A list of Gothic works read by the major writers of the period 1780-1830.
• Lyrical Ballads Bicentenary Project: View Lyrical Ballads (London 1798), by Coleridge and Wordsworth, with full text and images.
• My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• The Thomas Gray Archive: Interactive repository for study of British poet Thomas Gray (1716-1771).
• William Blake Archive

  19th Century

• Charles Dickens: An Overview
• Jane Austen Info Page
• Romantic Circles: Scholarly website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture.
• Romanticism on the Net: Refereed electronic journal devoted to British Romantic studies. Full-text articles and archive.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge Archive: From University of Virginia Library.
• British Women Romantic Poets, 1789-1832

  Contemporary

• American Literature Since 1945: Includes timelines and links indexed by American author. Maintained by Akihito Ishikawa, Department of English at Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies, Japan.
• British Literary Prizes
• Modern British Poetry: Electronic text of the poetry anthology by Louis Untermeyer published in 1920. Includes full text of poems and biographical sketches.