Full-Text Poetry Databases
- African American Poetry This link opens in a new windowFrom the first recorded poem by an African American to the major poets of the nineteenth century.
- American Poetry This link opens in a new windowOver 40,000 poems by more than 200 American poets from the Colonial Period to the early twentieth century
- Twentieth-Century African American Poetry This link opens in a new windowAlmost 9,000 poems by 62 of the most important African American poets of the last century
- Twentieth-Century English Poetry This link opens in a new windowCollection of more than 600 volumes of poetry by 283 poets from 1900 to the present day.
- English Poetry This link opens in a new windowContains essentially the complete English poetic canon from the 8th century to the early 20th.
- Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new windowLarge collection of full-text works. Use the Poetry link in the left margin.
- Sonnet CentralArchive of English sonnets, commentary, and relevant web links
- American Verse ProjectUniversity of Michigan project containing an electronic archive of volumes of American poetry before 1920
- BartlebyNot authoritative (can be inaccurate), but a good source nonetheless for finding the full text of thousands of British and American poems.
Criticism
Poetry criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, or evaluation of poetry and related literatures. Reading critical analyses of poetry can help you understand and interpret the work you are reading.
Below is a very select list of reference works that provide background information and provide suggestions for further reading.
- A Poet's Guide to PoetryCall Number: Main Library PN1059.A9 K56 1999
- American and British Poetry: A Guide to Criticism 1925-1978Call Number: Ref Z 1231 P7 A44
- British Romantic Poets, 1789-1832Call Number: Ref PN 141 D52 v. 96
- Cambridge Guide to Literature in EnglishCall Number: Ref PR 85 C29
- Cambridge History of English LiteratureCall Number: Ref PR 83 C3
- Contemporary Literary CriticismCall Number: Ref PN 771 C59
- Critical Survey of Poetry: English Language SeriesCall Number: Ref PR 502 C85
- Critical Survey of Poetry: Foreign Language SeriesCall Number: Ref PN 41 C7
- Crowell's Handbook of Contemporary American PoetryCall Number: Ref PS 323.5 M3
- Encyclopedia of American PoetryCall Number: Ref PS 323.5 E53
- Guide to American Poetry Explication: Colonial and 19th CenturyCall Number: Ref Z 1231 P7 R66
- Guide to American Poetry Explication: Modern and ContemporaryCall Number: Ref Z 1231 P7 M34
- Longman Dictionary of Poetic TermsCall Number: Ref PN 1042 M94
- Masterplots II: Poetry SeriesCall Number: Ref PN 1110.5 M37
- New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and PoeticsCall Number: Ref PN 1021 N39
- Oxford Companion to 20th-Century Poetry in EnglishCall Number: Ref PR 601 O9
- Poetry CriticismCall Number: Ref PN 1010 P499 v. 16
- Poetry Explication: A Checklist of InterpretationCall Number: Ref Z 2014 P7 K8
- Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading PoetryCall Number: Ref PR 502 L38
- Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and PoeticsCall Number: Ref PN 1021 N39
- The Greenwood encyclopedia of American poets and poetryCall Number: Ref PS303 .G74 2006
- The Main Library PN1059.A9 K56 1999Call Number: Ref PN1021 .N39 1993
Biographies of Poets
| Afro American Poets Since 1955 | Ref PN141 D52 v.41 |
| American Poets 1880-1945 | Ref PN141 D52 v. 45, 54 |
| American Poets Since World War II | Ref PN141 D52 v. 5, 120, 165, 169, 193 |
| American Women Writers | Ref PS147 A42 2000 |
| American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies | Ref PS129 A55 |
| The Beats | Ref PN141 D52 v. 16 |
| British Poets 1880-1914 | Ref PN141 D52 v. 19 |
| British Poets 1914-1945 | Ref PN141 D52 v.20 |
| British Romantic Poets 1789-1832 | Ref PN141 D52 v. 93, 96 |
| British Writers | Ref PR85 B688 |
| Contemporary Authors | Ref CT100 C64 |
| Dictionary of Literary Biography | Ref PN141 D52 |
| Longman Dictionary of Poets | Ref PN1111 B6 |
| Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Since 1960 | Ref PN141 D52 v. 40 |
| 20th-Century Author Biographies Master Index | Ref Z5304 A8 T83 |
| Victorian Women Poets | Ref PN141 D52 v. 199 |
| Who's Who in 20th Century World Poetry | Ref PN1271 W46 2000 |
| Poets: American and British | PS 303 P64 1998 v. 1 |
Internet Resources
American Verse Project (Univ. Michigan Humanities Text Initiative)-
British Poetry 1780 – 1910 (Electronic Text Center / Univ. Virginia)
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Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism Guide
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The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
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The Labyrinth: A Disciplinary Server for Medieval Studies
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Literary Resources on the Net (Jack Lynch, Rutgers University)
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Modern American Poetry (Dept. of English, Univ. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
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Online Literary Criticism Collection
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Perspectives in American Literature (PAL)
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Poetry Daily
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Voice of the Shuttle (Alan Liu, UCSB)
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Yahoo’s Literary Authors Listing