Major Poets of
New England
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
Selected
Print Resources
American
and British poetry: a guide to the criticism Reference PS303.A44
Contemporary literary criticism Reference PN771.C59
Contemporary poets Reference PR603.C6
Critical survey of poetry Reference PR502.C85
Dictionary of literary biography Reference PS21.D5
Dictionary of literary terms Reference PN44.5.S46
Guide to American literature and its backgrounds since 1890 Reference
Z1225.J65 1964
The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory and criticism Reference
PN81.J554
The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics Reference PN1021
N39
Nineteenth-century literature criticism Reference PN761.N5
The Oxford companion to American literature
Reference PS21.H3
The Oxford companion to twentieth-century poetry in English
Reference PR601.O9
Poetry criticism: excerpts from criticism of the
works of the most significant and widely studied poets of world literature
Reference PN1010.P499
Poetry explication: a checklist of interpretation since 1925 of British
and American poems past and present Reference PR502.K8
Poets: American and British Reference PS303.P64 1998
The poets of New London; an anthology ECSU Conn Studies Reference PS549.N4
H3
Seventeenth-century American poetry: a reference guide Reference
PS312.S3
Twentieth-century literary criticism Reference PN771.G27
Twentieth-century literary movements dictionary: a compendium to more
than 500 literary, critical, and theatrical movements, schools, and groups
from more than 80 nations, covering the novelists, poets, short-story writers,
dramatists, essayists, theorists, and works, genres, techniques, and terms
associated with each movement Reference PN597.T94
Literary
Criticism on Specific Authors:
Select
Online Catalog from the Library
home page to access CONSULS:
Select Keyword search:
To
find literary criticism, search on the author's name and the word criticism:
Databases
How
Do I Locate Criticism on a Specific Work? Most criticism can
be found by using an explicator. An explicator is a reference book for a genre,
such as poetry or short stories, that identifies where you may locate criticism
in books or periodicals on specific works. Selected print explicators are
listed above.
In addition, you will want to use The Explicator. Concentrating on
works that are frequently anthologized and studied in college classrooms,
The Explicator publishes concise notes on passages in prose or poetry.
Each issue contains between 25 and 30 notes delving into the meaning of passages
of literature from the classics to postmodernism from literatures throughout
the world. Published
quarterly, this journal offers explications of a wide array of classic and
contemporary literary works.
The
Explicator is available online (full text) via the Expanded
Academic ASAP database. It's also available full text via MLAIB (see below).
Accessing the databases: select Databases A-Z from the Library
home page:
For
more information on a library database, use the "About" link; to
search, click on the database name or the "Web" link:
In the search
screen, be sure to limit your journal to Explicator.
Caveat!
Online coverage of this title
only goes back to 1987 with citations only. From the early 1990s, abstracts
are available. Full text became available in 1993. For earlier dates (1942-1993),
see the print The Explicator in Serials downstairs.
Your
initial search results will look like this:
Once
you click on "View", your results will appear:
When you have the option, always choose PDF; the PDF version is a scan from
the journal itself. Please ignore the link "Click for SFX services".
At the end of each explication are Works Cited from the author as well as
a virtual goldmine of additional criticism:
Gale
Literary Databases are excellent sources for
contemporary literary research: Contemporary Authors
(CA) provides complete biographical and bibliographical information on more
than 120,000 U.S. and international authors. Contemporary Literary Criticism
(CLC) collects more than 35,000 critical essays on contemporary authors, with
biographical, critical, and principal works. Dictionary of Literary Biography
(DLB) provides nearly 10,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives,
works, and careers of influential literary figures from all eras and genres.
Caveat! CLC
print and online are not identical! CLC print contains articles not available
in CLC online and vice-versa.
The
Gale Literary Databases default search simultaneously searches all 3 databases
(CA, CLC & DLB):
To compare search results, let's try a search on a more contemporary poet,
e. e. cummings:
It's
always a good idea to check out the Help Menu or Search Tips in any new database,
online
catalog or search engine:
19th
Century Masterfile: A collection of indexes to over 1 million citations
from newspapers, periodicals, books, and government documents written before
1920. Indexes include: Poole's Index to Periodical Literature 1802-1907
and Stead's Index to Periodical Literature 1890-1906.
MagillOnLiterature is an online source for editorially reviewed
critical analyses. This database includes Masterplots, Masterplots
II, Cyclopedia of World Authors, Cyclopedia of Literary Characters,
Magill's Literary Annual 1990-2001, Magill's Guide to Science
Fiction and Fantasy Literature and Magill Book Reviews.
The MLA International Bibliography (MLAIB), published by the Modern
Language Association, covers scholarship published since 1963 in literature,
linguistics, folklore, literary theory and, since 1998, rhetoric and composition.
It is also an important resource for the non-technical aspects of theater
and film studies, cultural studies, critical theory, and the history of printing
and publishing. MLAIB does not cover scholarship in Greek, Latin, and other
ancient languages and literatures. Only bibliographic citations are included;
there are no abstracts. Citations are primarily to journal articles, books,
essays in multi-author collections, dissertations, and conference proceedings.
Book and performance reviews are not included. Coverage for the years 1921-1962
is available only in print and the Library has 1969-1987 and 1989-1991 in
Reference Z7006.M64. The electronic version offers easy searching by keyword,
author, and subject (characters, literary themes, etc.).
How
did we do?
Let's
narrow our search to a subject search using SU (for subject) as a prefix:
That
narrowed our results a bit:
Let's
narrow our search further by adding a Boolean operator (AND, OR or NOT):
Now we have
more manageable results:
Caveat! When we take a closer look, many of our hits come from the journal,
New England Review and don't have anything to do with New England
specifically. To screen those hits out, we'll add the Boolean operator NOT
to our search:
We still
have a problem with UP of New England so let's redo our search one last time:
You
don't need to capitalize "not". While our hits have been reduced
from 46 to 12, we may be confident that they are all relevant hits.
MLAIB
is not a full-text database. However, many citations are accompanied by a
direct link to the Library Catalog, which will help you determine which CSU
campus libraries own the documents referred to by the citations. Click on
the "Search CONSULS for this Title"link located below the citation:
When
you see "Please check the library's catalog for this title.", one
of the CSU libraries MAY own this book or journal (see illustration below).
Select
Online Catalog from the Library
home page to access CONSULS; this
time search for Journal Title:
Caveat! Make sure that you search for the journal title NOT the article
title:
The
online catalog record:
In
the record above, you will find all volumes listed (except for the current
year) on the 1st Floor in the Serials Stacks. If the record shows Microfilm
or Microfiche (see illustration below), you will find Microform on the 1st
Floor of the Library; ask at the service desk for help finding it as well
as using the microform machines:
Sometimes
Eastern has the full-text of the article available in another database:
The CONSULS record looks like this:
When you click on the link, you will see a record like this:
Scroll down until you see the following type of record and click on the link:
To find the article, make sure that you write down
the article title and journal volume, issue and date before entering the JSTOR
database:
Next, find the volume that you need:
Next,
scroll down until you find the correct Issue:
Scroll
down and select print or download (save to disk/hard drive):
You
may request a book from another CSU library by using the 
button
in CONSULS (you must be in the record for the book in order to access this
feature).
When
none of the CSUs have a book you need, or when you need a journal article
from another CSU or elsewhere, you may take advantage of our Interlibrary
Loan Service (ILL).
ILL requests for books/journal articles from other CSUs will only take 2-4
days and your only charge is $.10/page for photocopying.
You
may order books/journal articles from non-CSU libraries via Interlibrary
loan but it will take at least 7-10 days (perhaps 2-3 weeks). You may
request a book or journal article via ILL on the Library's
ILL page. If you need to request journal articles from any source, or
books from non-CSU libraries, you may use the online forms provided on the
Library website. Go to the Library
home page and rest your mouse on Library Services (see illustration below).
You'll see a drop-down menu; click on Interlibrary Loan.
On the Interlibrary
Loan page, you may read the policies and access online forms for journals
or books:
Photocopies of journal articles are $.10/page. You will be notified by telephone
or e-mail (you select this option on the form) when the books or journal articles
arrive. Interlibrary Loan books and journal articles may be picked up at the
Circulation Desk. You may also fill out paper ILL forms at the Reference Desk.
Caveat! If
you get results from Dissertation Abstracts (see illustration below),
you may request the dissertation, using the ILL book form. Some dissertations
are not available and, if available, there may be fees involved.
Try
searching for the title as a book in the WorldCat
database (see illustration below) or search under the author's name in
any of the databases to find out if s/he has written any journal articles
on your topic:
Scribner
Writers Series includes 15-20 page signed essays on more than 1,600 authors
and literary genres drawn from 13 acclaimed Scribner print series.
To find essays about Adrienne Rich, click on the R; you'll find 2 different
essays:
Another useful choice in this database is:
Some good options for your research include:
Twayne's
Authors Series is the online version of Twayne's U.S. Authors,
Twayne's English Authors, and Twayne's World Authors. It
provides literary criticism and discussion of nearly 600 authors and their
works, as well as literary movements and genres.
You may select from Authors A-Z or use their Research Ideas link:
When you select Twayne's United States Authors, you'll retrieve a chronological
list:
Use
the Gale
Literary Index to find which print literary criticism titles refer to
your poet/poem.
Selected
Web Resources
Poetry
on the Web
Click on the graphic to access the site
The
Academy of American Poets was founded in 1934 to support American poets at
all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary
poetry. The largest organization in the country dedicated to the art of poetry,
the Academy sponsors programs nationally. These include the Academy Fellowship,
the Wallace Stevens Award, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the James Laughlin
Award, the Walt Whitman Award, the Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award, the
Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, poetry prizes at 178 colleges and
universities, a national series of poetry readings and poets' residencies,
and the American Poets Fund and the Atlas Fund, which provide financial assistance
to poets and non-commercial publishers of poetry, respectively. The Academy
also sponsors National Poetry Month (April), an annual celebration of the
richness and vitality of American poetry; the Poetry Book Club, the only book
club of its kind in the United States; and the Online Poetry Classroom, an
educational resource and online teaching community for high school teachers;
and the Poetry Audio Archive, a collection of audio recordings of poetry readings.
Additionally, the Academy maintains one of the liveliest and most comprehensive
poetry sites on the Internet, at www.poets.org.
Search poets.org to find photos, hear a poem read by the author, and links
to other web resources.
epc
The EPC (Electronic Poetry Center) serves as a central gateway to resources
in electronic poetry and poetics at the University at Buffalo and on the Web
at large. Our aim is simple: to make available a wide range of resources centered
on digital and contemporary formally innovative poetries, new media writing,
and literary programming.
The EPC itself makes extensive resources available through its E-Poetry and
Author libraries. These libraries provide curated lists of resources on a
focused range of authors for personal use, research, and teaching. Additionally,
the EPC curates lists of links to similar digital and literary projects, related
book publishers, literary magazines, and other resources. In addition the
EPC offers substantial sound resources that will not be found elsewhere. These
include the vast resources of the UBU-EPC MP3 library and the award-winning
interview and performances series of LINEbreak.
English and American Literature on the Web This
list provides links to sites discussed in an essay entitled "Literature
in Electronic Format: The Traditional English and American canon," by
Dr. Joanne E. Gates, Associate Professor in English at Jacksonville State
University, published in the April 1997 issue of Choice: Current Reviews
for Academic Libraries, v. 34, no. 8, pp. 1279-1296. Useful links for
your research include:
The
Internet Public Library (IPL) Online Literary Criticism Collection
contains critical and biographical websites about authors and their works
that may be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period.
The collection is not inclusive of all the work on the web, nor does it plan
to be. The sites are selected with some thought to their overall usefulness.
Poetry from about.com, a very extensive site.
Explication
"Approaches
to Explicating Poetry." This important "how to do it" essay
is found in Critical Survey of Poetry, vol 8, pages 3515-3529, located
in the Reference Collection at Ref. PR 502. C85 1982 v. 8.
Essay
3: Poetry Explication. Note ideas in "Prewriting" and "Planning
and Drafting".
Explication
An
Outline for Explicating Poetry
What
is an Explication? Assignment Example. Contains excellent essay entitled
"What is an Explication." Disregard assignment.
Writing
About Literature from the UNLV Writing Center and Computer Lab.
Writing
Poetry Explications by Todd Verdun and Writing Center Staff, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Handouts
Annotated
Bibliographies from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Definition, purpose and formats are outlined for annotated bibliographies.
A link is provided for specific examples.
Building
a Better Poetry Paper: a beginner's poetry research toolkit
by Robert Benson, Roane State Community College Library
How
to write annotated bibliographies by the Queen Elizabeth II Library at
Memorial University of Newfoundland. In addition to listing the elements for
annotated bibliographies, both descriptive and critical annotation samples
are provided. Links are also supplied for MLA, APA and Turabian style citations.
LEO:
Literacy Education Online from St. Cloud State University The process
for writing annotated bibliographies is defined. Guidelines for both MLA and
APA citation styles are listed and examples included.
Sample
Annotated Bibliography from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab Citation
samples are discussed to help students determine the type and amount of information
to include in annotated bibliographies. At the end of the page, students may
link to additional samples.
Evaluating
Web Resources
Evaluating
Internet Resources,
St. Norbert College Library
The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: or Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
by Susan Beck, New Mexico State University Libraries
Citing
Your Research:
MLA (Modern Language Association) Bibliographic Citations
Reference
Book:
Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers. 5th ed. New York: MLA, 1999. Call No. LB 2369 G53 1999
Online:
WHEN YOU
NEED ADDITIONAL HELP, PLEASE STOP BY OR PHONE THE REFERENCE DESK (54699).
Good luck
with your research!
Page
created and maintained by Susan Herzog, Eastern Connecticut State University.
Last update: 12/2/02. Broken links or suggestions? Please e-mail
Susan.