How to Find Poetry and Poetry Criticism

Print Indexes & Abstracts | General Sources | Newspapers | Electronic Sources | Internet

Print Indexes and Abstracts

Columbia Granger's index to poetry in anthologies. 12^thed., completely rev., indexing anthologies published through Dec. 31, 2001, edited by Tessa Kale. New York, Columbia University Press, 2002.
A title and first-line index to 81,000 poems by 12,735 poets collected in approximately 400 anthologies. Last-line indexing is provided for 10,000 poems. Author and subject indexes are included. The first edition was published in 1904; each edition drops 150 anthologies and adds 150 new ones.
Payson Library (Ready Ref. PN 1022 H39 2002)

Last lines : an index to the last lines of poetry, by Victoria Kline. 2 vols. New York : Facts on File, c1991.
Indexes the last lines of approximately 171,000 poems published in anthologies, 1900-1987, including the same 405 anthologies of Granger's 8th ed., 74 from Granger's6th ed., and 18 significant anthologies published 1985-87. Contents: v. 1. Last line index. Title index -- v. 2. Author index. Keyword index.
Payson Library (Ref. PN 1022 K55 1991)

General Sources

Afro-American poets since 1955, edited by Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1985. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 41)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 41)

American poets since World War II, edited by Donald J. Greiner ; foreword by James Dickey. 2 vols. Detroit : Gale Research Co., 1980- (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 5)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 5)

American poets, 1880-1945, first series, edited by Peter Quartermain. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1986. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 45)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 45)

American poets, 1880-1945, second series, edited by Peter Quartermain. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1986. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 48)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 48)

American poets, 1880-1945, third series, edited by Peter Quartermain. 2 vols. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1987. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 54)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 54)

The Beats: literary Bohemians in postwar America, edited by Ann Charters. 2 vols. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1983. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 16)
Payson Library (Ref. PN501 D52 vol.16)

British poets, 1880-1914, edited by Donald E. Stanford. Detroit, MI : Gale Research Co., 1983. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 19)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 19)

British poets, 1914-1945, edited by Donald E. Stanford. Detroit, MI : Gale Research Co., 1983. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 20)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 20)

Contemporary poets, with a preface by Anthony Thwaite; editor, Thomas Riggs. 6th ed. New York : St. James Press, 1996.
Provides bibliographical information on more than 1,000 poets currently writing in the English language. Signed entries include biographical sketches, addresses, bibliographies of first editions, sound recordings, other publications, and lists of critical studies. Includes a title index.
Payson Library (Ref. PR 603 C6 1996)

Critical survey of poetryedited by Philip K. Jason. 2^nd rev. ed. 8 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, c2003.
Provides biographical sketches and critical analysis for 698 poets from the time of Ovid to the present. Vol. 1-7 contains poet essays arranged alphabetically; the essays give full birth and death dates, full listings of literary works by genre and bibliographical sources for further study. Vol. 8 contains 58 overview essays plus a chronological list of poets, a glossary of poetic terminology, a general bibliography, and indexes: geographical, categorized, and subject.

This set is a combined ed. of: Critical survey of poetry: foreign language series, originally published 1984, Critical survey of poetry: supplement, original published 1987, and Critical survey of poetry: English language series, rev. ed. published 1992, plus new material.
Payson Library (Ref. PN 1021 C7 2003)

Dictionary of literary biography Detroit, Mich : Gale Research Co, 1978-
In addition to the volumes on this list, poets are also included in some other volumes such as, American Renaissance in New England, American Writers in Paris, ... Check the listing in the Pepperdine Library Catalogunder this title. Each volume of collected essays is devoted to a single type, genre, geographic area or time period. The signed essays combine biographical and critical aspects with synopses of works and their bibliographical details, emphasizing in varying degrees the writer's historical importance and influence.
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 .D52)

Poetry criticism : excerpts from criticism of the works of the most significant and widely studied poets of world literature. Detroit, MI : Gale Research Inc., c1991-
Each author entry includes a biographical and critical introduction, a list of principal works, critical excerpts (arranged chronologically to emphasize critical reception), and a list of suggested readings. Excerpts are prefaced with an explanatory note to provide critical context. Each volume contains a cumulative author index, a cumulative nationality index for poets, and a cumulative title index of individual poems, book-length poems, and collection titles.
Payson Library (Ref. PN 1111 P63)

Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, 1945-1960, edited by Vincent B. Sherry, Jr. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1984. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 27)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 27)

Poets of Great Britain and Ireland since 1960, edited by Vincent B. Sherry, Jr. 2 vols. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research, c1985. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 40)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 40)

Twentieth-century Spanish poets. Second series, edited by Jerry Phillips Winfield. Detroit : Gale Research, c1994. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 134)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol. 134)

Victorian poets before 1850, edited by William E. Fredeman and Ira B. Nadel. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1984. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 32)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol.32)

Victorian poets after 1850, edited by William E. Fredeman and Ira B. Nadel. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985. (Dictionary of literary biography ; v. 35)
Payson Library (Ref. PN 501 D52 vol.35)

Newspapers

Book reviews, including collections of poetry and book-length poems, can be located in newspapers by using the appropriate index, such as:

New York Times Index.
Reviews are listed under Book Reviews alphabetically by title (beginning 1994 under the heading Books and Literature); reviews can also be found under the author of the book reviewed.
Payson Library (Index Area) 1851-1906,1911-1999

Los Angeles Times Index.
Reviews are listed by title under Books-Titles and by author under Books-Authors. See also Poetry and Poets.
Payson Library (Index Area) 1960-1999

Wall Street Journal.
Reviews are listed under Books-Authors and Books-Titles; earlier volumes have listing under Book Reviews.
Payson Library, West Los Angeles Graduate Campus Library (Index Area) 1960+, Orange (Indexes) 1989+

Washington Post.
Reviews are listed under Books-Authors and Books-Titles; earlier volumes have listing under Book Reviews.
Payson Library (Index Area) 1972/75-1997

Electronc Sources of Information

Pepperdine Library Catalog
Look under these and similar subjects: Poetry Poetry -- History and criticism American poetry Poets, American -- 20th century -- Biography Frost, Robert -- Criticism and interpretation

Using the Combination search: British poets OR British poetry

MLA International Bibliography [Search MLA ]
Indexing for more than 3225 literature journals, books, and dissertations in all major languages; includes literary criticism and linguistics. Paper index available at Payson Library for 1921-1962.

Literature Resource Center [Search Literature Resource Center]
Literature reference database that combines biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to deliver a resource package on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). It includes information from the following works: Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Classical and Medieval Literature, Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, Drama Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, and Literature Criticism 1400-1800.

Britannica Online [Search Britannica Online ]
The Encyclopedia Britannica online through the Internet.
Searchable by poet or check the Propaedia for a list of poetry topics.

Research Library [Search Research Library] Access to scholarly journals in business, health, the social sciences, humanities, education, and general science; citations and abstracts for over 2,300 journals from 1971 forward. Full-text and/or full-image is available for over 1400 journals from 1986 forward.

Search by subject, SUB(poets) or SUB(poetry), or by name of poet, ex. NAME(Angelou, Maya). You can limit your search to poets of a particular nationality,ex. sub(poets) and geo(england)

America History and Life
[Search America History and Life ]
Scholarly literature from journals, dissertations, and book reviews on the history and culture of the United States and Canada
Published since 1964, the database comprises almost 400,000 bibliographic entries; every year approximately 16,000 new entries are added.

Internet Sources

Bartleby.com/verse
_(http://www.bartleby.com/verse/)_
With thousands of poems by hundreds of authors, Bartleby.com offers one of the largest free collections of verse on the web; includes both anthologies and volumes by individual poets

Representative Poetry On-Line
_(http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display/index.cfm)_
Poetry and prose edited by members of the Department of English at the University of Toronto from 1912 to 1967 and re-edited online from 1994 to the present by Ian Lancashire

Yahoo Poetry _(http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Poetry/)_ Links include a well-maintained index of poets.

Compiled By: Elizabeth Parang
Last Updated: August 2004