Finding poems
To find books of collected poetry in the library collection, use MARQCAT's Subject Headings, such
as American Poetry,
English Poetry,
Haiku,
Sonnets, etc. Collected
works of a single poet will be found under Author such as Frost,
Robert. The Browsing Collection on the 1st Level of Raynor offers many collections of
contemporary poetry.
 Literature Online (Lion) contains
the complete text for tens of thousands of poems; begin with the "texts" search page.
LION also contains over 800 audio/video clips of poems read by their authors or other poets; search
the "Poets on Screen" page.
Reference Books
Web sites
Handbooks
As a supplement to these guides, students may find other sources in the Reference Collection
helpful for background on the poet's time period or topic of the poem. For example Oxford
Companion to Irish History (Ref. DA 912 .O94 1998); The London Encyclopedia (Ref. DA
679 .L78 1986); or Encyclopedia of the American Civil War (Ref. E 468 .H47 2000). Use MARQCAT, looking under the broad topics, or ask at the
Information Desk for suggestions.
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Research Guides and
Bibliographies
Literature Online (LION) is the primary
starting point for research on poets and poetry. LION contains author biographies,
bibliographies of the author's works, complete texts, reference works, and criticism found in
scholarly journals. (MLA International Bibliography and Annual Bibliography of English
Language and Literature, ABELL)
- American and British Poetry: A Guide to the Criticism 1925-1990
Ref. PS 303 .A44
1984 (2 v.)
- Critical Survey of Poetry, English Language Series Ref. PR 502 .C85 1992 (8 v.)
- Critical Survey of Poetry, Foreign Language Series Ref. PN 1021 .C7 1984 (6 v.)
- Encyclopedia of American Poetry:
The Nineteenth Century Ref. PS 316 .E53 1998; also online via LION
- Facts on File Companion to Twentieth-Century American Poetry Ref. PS 323.5 .F33
2005
- Guide to British Poetry Explication Ref. PR 311 .M37 (4 v.)
- Masterplots II: Poetry Series Ref. PN 1110.5 .M37 1992 (9 v.)
- Victorian Poetry: an Annotated Bibliography Ref. PR 591 .M35 1995
There are many reliable Web sites devoted to poets; a few starting places:
Poets: Biographical Approaches
Literature Online (LION)
has thousands of biographies of poets; begin on the "Author" search page.
- Contemporary American Ethnic Poets Ref. PS 153 .M56 2004
- Contemporary Poets Ref. PR 603 .C6 1995
- Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English Ref. PR 601 .O9 1994
- Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB), Ref. PN 451 .D535 use index, many volumes
including (examples)
- American Poets Since World War II (DLB v.5)
- Victorian Poets After 1850 (DLB, v. 32)
- British Poets 1914-1945 (DLB, v. 20)
- Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Since 1960 (DLB, v.40)
For books in the library collection with a bio-critical approach, look for the poet in MARQCAT under subject, such as Heaney, Seamus
Finding Publishers for Poetry
Poet's Market Ref. PN 1059 .M3P59 |
