LibGuides: English Composition &amp; Literature: Literature

Literary News

Rare photographs of Allen Ginsberg
In addition to being one of the most important and recognized modern poets, Ginsberg was also a photographer, and he took thousands of what he called “certain moments in eternity”: snapshots of himself and his friends, documenting and reflecting the Beat generation and beyond.
Sylvia Plath Reads Spinster
A rare BBC recording of Plath reading her own work.
Unseen Sylvia Plath Letters
Unpublished correspondence from the poet to her former therapist.

Databases

Articles about English literature are best searched in these databases. For suggested websites and books, see below.

MLA International Bibliography
Covers language, literature, humanities, folklore, drama, and criticism, indexing over 3,000 international journals, series, monographs, working papers, conference proceedings, bibliographies and more from 1963 to the present. MLA International Bibliography tutorials: a complete list (https://www.mla.org/Publications/MLA-International-Bibliography/Tutorial-Videos). Choose "ProQuest platform" versions.
Academic Search Complete
This database offers multidisciplinary, scholarly abstracts and articles for nearly every academic field of study and occasionally includes articles not in the MLA International Bibliography.
JSTOR
BEWARE. Use this database with caution. While it is multidisciplinary and provides a full text archive of core scholarly journals in selected disciplines, all content is 3-5 years out of date because the company has an embargo period. Use the other databases first and use the "SFX" button to reach the full text. Searching JSTOR directly should only be searched for those years prior to 1963, when the other databases begin.
Project MUSE
BEWARE. While this database includes the full-text of articles published in over 100 journals from from Johns Hopkins University Press and other university and academic publishers, its coverage only begins in 1995. It is probably better to search MLA International Bibliography first and use the "SFX" button to take you into Project MUSE, if this source has the full text.

Websites

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Offered by MIT, this is the web's first edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

There are infinite valid websites to help you with your research. Below are a few.

The Shakespeare Society
Check out "resources" for links to the Folger Library, e-notes on Shakespeare and other useful links.
The Jane Austen Centre
All things Jane Austen. You can even sign up for a newsletter.
The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain
Check out "resources" and "useful links."
Whitman Archive
The Walt Whitman Archive endeavors to make Whitman's vast work freely and conveniently accessible to scholars, students, and general readers.
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The Archive is directed by Kenneth M. Price (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) and Ed Folsom (University of Iowa), with ongoing contributions from many other editor-scholars, students, information professionals, and technologists.
Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians
The British Library offers 19th-century classics, taking full advantage of the library's treasures while also introducing visitors to 19th-century literary and cultural history
Digital Bodleian
The digitized collections of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
This British Library blog combines gorgeous illustrations with brief, elementary explanations and links to related material.
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The blog authors, mostly doctoral-student interns, promote the library's current projects in digitization, research, and public education. Preserved online are posts from its inception on February 5, 2010, and onward. Content ranges widely. Themes include fantastic beasts, monastic sign language, fake documents, and the female mystic Julian of Norwich. Many posts are tied to the season: devils are featured at Halloween, Christmas carols in December, and female writers and book patrons on International Women's Day. The search feature on the blog site allows users to find images and commentary within a post.
Glossary of Poetic Terms
From the Poetry Foundation

Recent Books

Women and Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century by Fiona Ritchie
Call Number: e-book
ISBN: 9781107046306
Publication Date: 2014-06-02
Fiona Ritchie analyses the significant role played by women in the construction of Shakespeare's reputation which took place in the eighteenth century.

A couple of new books to pique your interest here and to the right.

Recent Books

Becoming Virginia Woolf by Barbara Lounsberry
Call Number: e-book
ISBN: 9780813049915
Publication Date: 2014-08-05
“Explores the history of Woolf's diaries, not only to reveal heretofore unremarked sources but also to trace her evolving sense of possibilities in diary-writing, possibilities which helped shape Woolf as a fiction writer."--Panthea Reid, author of Art and Affection: A Life of Virginia Woolf
Donne, Milton and the End of Humanist Rhetoric by Thomas O. Sloane
Call Number: e-book
ISBN: 9780520052123
Publication Date: 1985-04-04
This is a book which ought to clear a path toward a rhetorical reading of 17th Century poetry for students of English literature as well as for students of the history of rhetoric.

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

English Composition & Literature

ILL and CSU+

Subject Guide

Literary News

Databases

Websites

Recent Books

Recent Books