Poetry Criticism

CONSULS

CONSULS is the online catalog of the four CSU libraries (Central-CCSU, Eastern-ECSU, Southern-SCSU and Western-WCSU) and the Connecticut State Library-StLib. To find books and other materials on your subject, choose Subject from the CONSULS Main Menu screen and type your subject:

Example: English Poetry 18th Century

To find books and other biographical and critical materials on poets, choose Subject from the CONSULS Main Menu screen and then type the poet's name (last name first). It is not necessary to type the poet's full name but it is important to spell correctly.

Example: Frost Robert

A list of SUBJECT HEADINGS will appear in alphabetical order. Select the heading with the subdivision "biography" (for biographical information) or criticism (for critical analysis of the writer's works).

Example: Frost Robert 1874-1963 - Criticism and Interpretation

If your search does not have the subdivision you are looking for, choose the subject heading with the most entries. This is usually found in line 1 or 2.

You may also do a word search by selecting keyword from the CONSULS Main Menu screen:

Example: Whitman literary criticism

If there are too many entries, you may limit your search to items available in the SCSU library by selecting the Limit/Sort option. From the following screen, use the pull down menu next to "Where item is located" and select "SCSU".

You can also limit by year of publication, language or type of material.

Books pertaining to language and literature are shelved in the P section according to the Library of Congress Classification System. Books that have Ref before the call number are shelved in the Reference section on the main floor of Buley Library. Circulating books are indicated by SCSU Stacks on CONSULS. The P section of the circulating collection is split between the first and second floors. Books with call numbers A through N are on the main floor. P through Z are on the second floor.

Basic Literature Reference Sources

The following multi-volume interrelated sets are excellent starting points for finding biographical or critical information about writers. All of the series is cross-indexed. Look up your author in the index section of the last volume of each set Next to the author's name there will be abbreviations of books in which information about the author can be found. These abbreviations are expanded in the front of each volume. Check CONSULS to get the call number of the publication cited.

To Locate Poems in Collections

The following reference books are useful in locating individual poems that are published in poetry collections. Check CONSULS to see if we have the book in which the poem appears once you locate the poem in the index.

Reference Sources

Contemporary Poets -- Ref PR603. C6
Provides biographical information, critical essays and bibliographies for contemporary poets.

Databases

The following databases contain a wealth of information on literary figures and their works:

Indexes

Indexes provide bibliographic citations to articles in books, magazines, journals, and newspapers. A bibliographic citation consists of author, title of article, title of periodical, volume, page and date. Once you get the citation, check CONSULS to see if we have the publication that is cited in the index.

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature --Ref Z2011. M689
This is the English counterpart of the MLA. It identifies books, pamphlets and periodical articles that contain literary information.

Biography Index -- Index Section
Indexes biographical material in books and journals. Includes references to obituaries, collections of letters, diaries, memoirs and bibliographies.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index -- Ref Z5305.U5 B87
Includes biographical sketches that have been published in current and retrospective biographical dictionaries. Good place to start if nothing other than the person's name is known.

Essay and General Literature Index -- Index Section, Main Floor
This is an index to chapters in books and essays in collections.

Humanities Index -- Index Section, Main Floor
Index articles that appear in English language journals. Includes language, literature and literary criticism. Entries are by author and subject.

The New York Times Index -- Index Section, Main Floor
Indexes articles that appear in the New York Times. Book Reviews are arranged by title under the section, "Book Reviews".

Web Sites

African American Writers: Poets and Poetry
http://www.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/afampoet.htm

British Poetry 1780-1910: A Hypertext Archive of Scholarly Editions
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/britpo.html

Electronic Poetry Center
http://epc.buffalo.edu

The Eserver Poetry Collection
http://eserver.org/poetry/

Google Directory: Poetry
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Poetry/

HTI American Verse Project
http://www.hti.umich.edu/a/amverse/

Internet Poetry Archive
http://www.poetry.com.au/

Internet Resources - American Poetry
http://bubl.ac.uk/link/a/americanpoetry.htm

 

Library of Congress Poetry Resources 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/lcpoetry/poetry.html

Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/Poetry/

Project Bartleby
http://www.bartleby.com/verse/

Twentieth Century Poetry in English
http://www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp/~hishika/20c_poet.htm

Voice of the Shuttle
http://vos.ucsb.edu/

Yahoo - Poetry
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Poetry/

 
Winnie Shyam
Reference Librarian

©1999 Southern Connecticut State University