LibGuides: English Literature: Medieval and Early Modern : Criticism

Recommended Databases

ProQuest One Literature
This database contains 3 million literature citations from thousands of journals, monographs, dissertations, and more than 500,000 primary works. These include rare and obscure texts, multiple versions, and non-traditional sources like comics, theatre performances, and author readings. It also includes book reviews and criticism related to this content.

MLA International Bibliography
One of the first places to start in a search for literary criticism of all types. Covers the world's research literature in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore.
To streamline your search, you may want to limit to "journal articles" from the Publication Type box at the bottom of the page.

ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Bibliography on the Renaissance (1300-1700) and Middle Ages (400-1500). Includes citations for books, journal material, dissertations, and essays in books.

Literature Resource Center
Criticism, biographies, reference articles, full-text journals, reviews, primary works, plot analysis, explication, and more.
The database will search all of the above. You can change this default by going to the Advanced Search tab and un-checking "All" from the Content Type. Then check only literature criticism.

Brepolis Medieval & Early Modern Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Comprises articles about the medieval period derived from periodicals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections, Festschriften and exhibition catalogues). All articles are classified with full bibliographical details and subject classifications and indexing familiar to medievalists.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
A collection of literature reference sources. Use the Advanced Search.
Includes:
- Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
- Contemporary Literary Criticism
- Drama Criticism
- Literature Criticism 1400-1800
- Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
- Poetry Criticism
- Shakespeare Criticism
- Short Story Criticism
- Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism

Oxford Scholarship Online
Provides access to digitized versions of print books published by Oxford University Press and other university presses worldwide. Covers a broad range of disciplines. NOTE: Users who do not have a UCSBnet ID and password can access the open access titles in this collection. Use the limiters on the left-hand side to limit to "free" and "open access".

Cambridge Companions to Literature
Over 215 volumes from this acclaimed series of critical texts. From the LION database, you can search via the "Criticism" search page or browse a list of volumes and constituent essays from the link in the "Complete Contents."
Penguin Classics Introduction
These nearly 400 volumes from the Penguin Classics series include key information about the biographical, historical and critical details surrounding the author and the text.
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Each volume of this huge set is devoted to the authors of a particular era, place or genre, or to a theme. There is a cumulative index at the end of each volume. Entries include a portrait of the author, a list of his or her published works, a detailed literary biography, a bibliography of other sources and, often, the location of the author's papers.

Brepolis Medieval & Early Modern Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Comprises articles about the medieval period derived from periodicals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections, Festschriften and exhibition catalogues). All articles are classified with full bibliographical details and subject classifications and indexing familiar to medievalists.